[2023 National Audit] Legislation Committee, 'Moon's Data Manipulation vs Prosecution's Special Activity Funds' Ruling Party and Opposition Clash

與 "Apartment Price Statistics Manipulation, Pressure from Higher-Ups"
野 "Is the Air Purifier Cost a Confidentiality Expense?"

On the 20th, during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the nationwide district and high courts and district and high prosecutors' offices, the ruling party raised suspicions of real estate statistics manipulation by the former Moon Jae-in administration, while the opposition party accused the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s prosecution of misusing special activity funds (special activity expenses), leading to a heated exchange.

On the afternoon of the same day, Jo Su-jin, a member of the People Power Party, stated, "Based on what is known so far, there is suspicion that the Moon Jae-in government pressured the Korea Real Estate Board to manipulate weekly apartment price trend statistics 94 times over five years starting immediately after the government took office in 2017, to make it appear as if housing price policies were effective." She added, "It seems there was significant pressure from the Blue House and higher-ups at the time."

On the 20th, the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a state audit of the Busan District Court, during which the victim of the 'Busan Dolryeochagi' incident appeared as a witness. The committee kept the identity of the witness confidential. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

She continued, "Logically, frontline officials in ministries have no benefit from manipulating statistics," and said, "It is unlikely they would manipulate the data without orders. Therefore, the higher-ups remain the main suspects."

She emphasized, "The key issue is to uncover whose orders and external pressures led to the manipulation." She also stressed, "Since this is a manipulation case involving power, including evidence destruction and perjury inducement, there will likely be many attempts to conceal and downplay it," urging, "Investigation efforts should be concentrated at the level of a special investigation headquarters."

Jeon Ju-hye, also from the same party, said, "During the audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection at the time, many employees of the Korea Real Estate Board testified that they received orders to manipulate statistics, but many administrative officers from the Blue House testified that they never received such orders," emphasizing, "Thorough investigation on these aspects is important."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party countered by probing allegations that the prosecution misused special activity funds, which should have been used for confidential investigations.

The day before, the Democratic Party urged the prosecution to form a dedicated investigation team for unauthorized disposal and misuse of special activity funds, mentioning filing complaints with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and pushing for a special prosecutor. In a statement released by the Democratic Party’s Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship and Political Oppression, they criticized, "The prosecution’s use of special activity funds was full of misuse and abuse," adding, "At the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors’ Office Goyang Branch, 500,000 won was paid as an encouragement bonus to an outstanding employee in 2018 using prosecution special activity funds, and in 2017, 1,000,000 won was spent as a reward for selecting an excellent case by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, as confirmed by the media. While tax misuse and abuse are serious problems, the biggest issue is the organized collective illegal disposal of special activity fund records."

On the same day, Park Yong-jin, a Democratic Party lawmaker, pointed out, "This is a receipt clearly showing the Coway logo among special activity funds spent by the Jangheung Branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office. It was revealed that from June 2020 to January 2021, for eight months, 69,800 won per month of special activity funds was used for air purifier rentals."

He also said, "There was also a 100,000 won expenditure last March for a commemorative photo of an executive’s transfer," adding, "Special activity funds are not meant to be used for such purposes."

Park criticized, "According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s budget guidelines, special activity funds are expenses directly required for national affairs such as confidential information and case investigations, or equivalent diplomatic, security, and protective activities," and pointed out, "No one thinks Coway air purifier costs are expenses for maintaining confidentiality."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.