Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over BAI Neutrality: Ruling Party Calls for 'Yoo Byung-ho Shake-Up,' Opposition Cites 'Political Bias'

Democratic Party presses for accountability over targeted audits under Yoon administration
People Power Party criticizes audit commissioner appointments
Supreme Court's KRW 1.3 billion in incentive payments spark "soft-touch audit" controversy
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The ruling and opposition parties launched attacks from opposite directions over the political neutrality of the Board of Audit and Inspection. The Democratic Party of Korea focused its questioning on allegations of targeted audits conducted under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the lack of internal personnel changes, while the People Power Party took issue with appointments to the Board’s audit committee and reviews of past audit findings since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office. In particular, the Democratic Party also raised allegations that the Board had effectively gone easy on those involved in the improper use of public funds recently uncovered in an audit of the Supreme Court.

Kim Hocheol, chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, answers lawmakers' questions during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the Board's office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Oct. 12, 2026. 2026.10.12 Yonhap News

At the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s audit of the Board of Audit and Inspection in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Oct. 12, People Power Party lawmaker Yun Sang-hyun took issue with the Board’s push to reopen audits into the sinking of a South Korean government vessel in the West Sea and allegations that statistics were manipulated under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Yun asked why the Board had changed its position this year after concluding last year that there was no need to reopen the audits. Board Chairman Kim Hocheol responded, “New facts that we had not found in our audits emerged during the parliamentary investigation,” explaining that the Board makes a comprehensive assessment, including whether there is new evidence and whether important facts were omitted.

Yun also took issue with the appointments of audit committee members Lim Sun-sook and Lee Jin-guk. Citing their political backgrounds, he called the appointments “personnel decisions that undermine neutrality and independence,” adding that the Board had become “an audit board of the Tang dynasty, not an audit board for the people.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Gyuntaek questioned whether personnel changes had been properly made to the so-called “Tiger faction,” centered on audit committee member Yoo Byung-ho, who led audits under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. Chairman Kim said, “Through the Operational Reform Task Force and the Follow-up Measures Task Force for the Parliamentary Investigation, we are holding those responsible fully accountable for coercive and illegal audits,” making clear that he would not tolerate internal factions.

In August, the Board announced the findings of its own investigation, which found that coercive questioning and unlawful digital forensics had been used during audits into allegations of statistical manipulation under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the sinking of the South Korean government vessel in the West Sea. It said at the time that it would file criminal complaints against nine employees involved in the statistical audit and pursue disciplinary proceedings against 10 others.

The findings of the audit of the Supreme Court also became a point of contention. Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Han-kyu criticized the Board for issuing only a warning without verifying specifically how cash incentives paid to Supreme Court justices and others had been used, calling it “an act of leniency that falls short even of a slap on the wrist.” In its regular audit of the Supreme Court in August, the Board found that a total of 1.299 billion won in incentives had been improperly paid to Supreme Court justices, the Minister of the National Court Administration, and others between 2022 and September 2025.

Chairman Kim acknowledged that the Board had not verified how the incentives were specifically used, but said there could be differences of opinion over the scope of the investigation. In response to criticism that the Supreme Court was not properly implementing the audit findings, he said, “We will check whether the warning is being properly acted upon and see whether improvements have been made in the next audit as well.”

When Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won raised the issue of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae’s use of a corporate credit card and asked whether the Board should refer the matter for investigation, Chairman Kim replied that he understood the Board had judged it did not warrant a criminal complaint. People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo posed a hypothetical question about whether the president’s family’s golf expenses had been paid with special activity funds, but Chairman Kim drew a line, saying it would not be appropriate to answer a question that presupposed a specific person’s alleged wrongdoing as fact.

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