Board of Audit and Inspection "Comprehensive Inspection of Aviation Safety Management at 15 Airports Nationwide This Year"

'2025 Annual Audit Plan' Announced
Audit of Korea Sports Council to Begin

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) will commence an audit on the management status of vulnerable areas in aviation safety at all 15 airports nationwide in the second quarter of this year.

On the 13th, the BAI announced its '2025 Annual Audit Plan' and revealed that it has identified 20 high-risk priority areas this year and will launch audits linked to these areas.

In particular, following the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster at Muan International Airport last December, which resulted in the deaths of 179 passengers, the BAI plans to conduct a comprehensive inspection of all vulnerable areas in aviation safety targeting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Incheon International Airport Corporation, Korea Airports Corporation, and others. Audits are being considered for domestic airport facilities including runways, personnel and equipment related to air traffic control, and the accident investigation system.

Starting this month, the BAI will begin an on-site audit of the Korea Sports Council. It will examine the selection, support, and protection status of national athletes and coaches, any irregularities in budget execution, and issues related to management and supervision by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The BAI had already initiated a special audit of the Sports Council at the end of November last year.

The BAI will also review causes of the rapid increase in national debt, agricultural policy funds and university financial support projects linked to local regions, illegal activities at social overhead capital (SOC) construction sites, financial consumer protection and public network security management, local extinction due to demographic changes, and damage caused by abnormal weather due to rapid climate change.

This year, the BAI plans to conduct regular audits on 67 items across 83 institutions. The number of institutions subject to regular audits has increased by 22 (28 institutions) compared to last year.

Additionally, as requests for audits from the National Assembly are increasing, the BAI explained that it will efficiently manage audit personnel to conduct audits as quickly as possible and report the results to the National Assembly. So far, 29 items, including allegations of political neutrality violations by Lee Jin-sook, Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, have been approved by the plenary session and received by the BAI.

Regarding questions about whether audits will be conducted on the declaration of emergency martial law on December 3 and the failure to host the 2030 World Expo, Hwang Hae-sik, Director of Planning and Coordination at the BAI, stated, "Since the emergency martial law is currently under investigation and trial, it is not appropriate to audit it," and added, "Although there was discussion about the failure to host the Expo, it was concluded that it is not suitable as an audit subject."

Yonhap News

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