BAI TF: "Yoo Byungho Abused Personnel and Audit Authority"... Seven Also Investigated for Leaking Military Secrets

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) Reform Task Force (TF) has confirmed that Yoo Byungho, former Secretary General of the BAI (currently an Audit Commissioner), extensively abused his personnel and inspection authority during his tenure. The TF has reported him to investigative authorities on charges including abuse of authority. It was also revealed that military secrets were leaked during the audits of the West Sea civil servant murder case and the Guard Post (GP) audits, leading to seven individuals being investigated for leaking military secrets in the course of their work.

On November 25, the BAI Reform TF announced the results of its review, stating, "The baseless reports and selective exercise of personnel and inspection authority by the former Secretary General created a climate of fear among employees," and added, "He has been reported for obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means and abuse of authority." Along with the review results, the TF plans to identify institutional improvement tasks to ensure fair and transparent operation of the BAI and will release a comprehensive report in early December.

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Since Yoo’s appointment as Secretary General in June 2022, internal criticism has mounted that a small number of individuals monopolized benefits such as promotions, transfers, performance bonuses, and study abroad opportunities through personnel management that disregarded regulations and established practices. Those who opposed this were subject to concentrated inspections and personnel actions. More than 60% of the 90 employees whose opinions were collected by the TF expressed dissatisfaction related to personnel and inspection issues.

According to the TF, from the early days of his tenure, Yoo repeatedly raised the need to inspect five executives who were at odds with him. When the BAI Chairman did not accept this, Yoo called the Chairman, who was on a business trip, and reported, "Audit data (computer files) are being deleted," thereby obtaining approval for emergency inspections and personnel actions.

Based on this report, on July 1, 2022, the BAI sent a notice of investigation initiation under the name of the Inspection Office and collected the work PCs of the five executives, then took personnel actions such as placing them on standby. However, after five months of inspection, the TF found that, aside from routine file creation and deletion on external hard drives, there was no evidence of audit data being deleted. The TF concluded that this was an abuse of inspection authority, deviating from the intent of the Public Audit Act, which allows investigation notices only in cases where objective misconduct is confirmed.

The TF also found the personnel actions to be excessive. On the day the investigation notice was sent, Yoo summoned the HR department and instructed, "As soon as you receive the inspection notice, carry out personnel actions such as placing them on standby by the morning of the same day." Although HR staff raised concerns about legal violations and retaliatory measures, the orders were carried out under pressure from superiors to "follow the Secretary General's instructions." According to the TF, the affected executives suffered disadvantages such as restrictions on honorary retirement, delayed promotions, and psychological distress.

Yoo was also found to have intervened in performance evaluations. According to the TF, after the evaluators (directors) and verifiers (first-grade officials) had completed their assessments in early 2023 for fourth-grade and department head-level employees, Yoo instructed that the rankings and grades of certain individuals be raised. As a result, the rankings and evaluation grades of 16 people were changed contrary to the original evaluators’ intentions. While the Personnel Committee may adjust overall grades for the organization, the TF explained that arbitrarily changing the rankings within individual evaluation units (department or first-grade level) is not permitted by regulations.

The TF stated, "The former Secretary General pressured employees who did not comply with his instructions through personnel actions and warning messages, creating an atmosphere where it was difficult to refuse his orders, and then demanded adjustments to evaluation grades." There were also reports that over 30 first-grade and director-level executives were required to report to work by 8:30 a.m. to receive announcements, and that warning messages were posted on the internal network 14 times.

Based on these findings, the TF reported Yoo to investigative authorities on November 24 for obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means under Article 137 of the Criminal Act and for abuse of authority under Article 123 of the Criminal Act.

The TF also found evidence that the BAI leaked military secrets during the audit of the West Sea civil servant murder case (West Sea audit) and the public interest audit request regarding the inadequate verification of the disabling of North Korean GPs (GP audit). Despite military secrets being a core issue in both cases, the TF concluded that those involved in the audits disclosed military secrets to the media without review by the Ministry of National Defense Security Review Committee.

In the West Sea audit, while the on-site audit was ongoing on October 13, 2022, the BAI notified the prosecution of its request to investigate 20 suspects and distributed a press release with the same content to the media. Later, even after the Audit Committee decided on October 5, 2023, to keep the audit results confidential, another press release on the audit results was distributed on December 7.

The Military Secrets Protection Act requires that disclosure of military secrets be reviewed by the Ministry of National Defense Security Review Committee. However, according to the TF, the West Sea audit leadership leaked "military secrets that could pose a clear threat to national security" twice to the outside, despite opposition from audit commissioners and without security review. The responsible department head at the time claimed, "We received review from the Ministry of National Defense to determine if the information was suitable for media release," but the TF found that neither the Ministry of National Defense nor the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed such a review took place.

The TF also determined that the BAI’s distribution of a press reference on October 18, 2023, stating, "There is no basis whatsoever for the claim that major military intelligence was leaked," in response to criticism of the exposure of military secrets, was false. In contrast, immediately after the BAI’s press release requesting an investigation, the prosecution requested a review from the Ministry of National Defense on December 5, 2022, to disclose the results of the West Sea case investigation. However, on December 26 of that year, it was notified of a "non-disclosure decision," and the information was not actually released.

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Similar suspicions of secret leakage arose during the GP audit. According to the TF, on March 27, during the final report of the GP audit, a director-level employee close to Audit Commissioner Yoo, who had no authority to be involved in the Secretariat’s work, suggested making an interim announcement of the investigation request. However, the BAI Chairman rejected this. The next day, Audit Commissioner Yoo distributed a one-page document to the Secretary General and executives emphasizing the need to promote the GP audit, and the director-level employee instructed the preparation of an unofficial 13-page press release containing military secrets, which was delivered on the morning of March 31.

Although it had been decided at an official meeting not to make an interim announcement, the document was not returned to its author. A month later, on April 24, a specific media outlet published an exclusive report on the main contents of the GP audit investigation request. The TF stated, "A comparison between the unofficial press release and the article revealed a 94% match in expressions and terminology, and much of the 'Class II Military Secret' content from the investigation request was included." The TF explained that, with 38 media outlets publishing follow-up reports ahead of the presidential election, there is a high possibility that military and official secrets were leaked.

The TF has reported seven individuals involved in the West Sea and GP audits to investigative authorities for violating Article 13 of the Military Secrets Protection Act and related charges, and has submitted investigative reference materials for two individuals suspected of leaking the unofficial GP audit press release. These findings have been finalized with the approval of the BAI Chairman. The BAI stated, "In principle, not only external but also internal audit results should be made public in accordance with the law," and added, "Based on the results of the Reform TF, we will prepare institutional improvement measures to enhance the BAI’s political neutrality and independence."

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