Board of Audit and Inspection rejects criticism of political audits

[Anchor]

The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea (BAI Korea) and the prosecution have strongly opposed the impeachment report.

First, BAI Korea refuted the reasons for impeachment point by point and urged the withdrawal of what they called an unjust impeachment.

Reporter Moon Ye-seul has the story.

[Report]

In an unprecedented move, BAI Korea's Secretary-General Choi Dal-yeong has appealed against the impeachment of the Board Chairman.

Secretary-General Choi stated that he cannot agree with the claim of targeted audits by the previous government.

[Choi Dal-yeong/BAI Korea's Secretary-General: "If it is criticized as political audits due to political advantages and disadvantages, It is difficult to accept."]

Regarding the incidents mentioned by the Democratic Party as 'political audits'—the killing of a public official in the West Sea, the manipulation of the economic feasibility assessment of the Wolsong Unit 1, and the audit of former Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chair Jeon Hyun-heui—Choi claims that there were backgrounds for the audits, including the reversal of investigation results, requests from the National Assembly based on agreements between the ruling and opposition parties from the previous government, and numerous reports of corruption.

[Choi Dal-yeong/BAI Korea's Secretary-General: "Typically, audits target work done in the past three to five years, so in the early days of a new government, the work of the previous government inevitably becomes the subject of audits."]

He also explained that they are applying the same standards to audit the current government's initiatives, such as preparations for major disasters, the disruption of the Jamboree event, and national computer network failures.

Regarding the allegations of inadequate audits related to the 'presidential residence relocation,' he acknowledged limitations, stating that while they verified the entity responsible for selecting the contractor, they could not identify the recommenders.

However, he mentioned that they conducted thorough audits, including interviewing relevant individuals 126 times and uncovering corruption among security agency officials, and questioned, "What more can the Board of Audit and Inspection do?"

He also explained that Chairman Choi Jae-hae's statement, "the Board of Audit and Inspection supports the President's governance," meant that "thorough government monitoring and checks ultimately help in governance."

The BAI Korea stated that they have not yet considered a 'Plan B' as a countermeasure in case of the Chairman's impeachment, but there are speculations that Chairman Choi may file a request for a provisional injunction with the Constitutional Court.

This is KBS News, Moon Ye-seul.