The National Assembly's parliamentary audit, the first under the Lee Jae-myung administration, is heading into the final stretch. The audit is a system by which the National Assembly, the legislature, identifies the overall state of government affairs and corrects shortcomings. In this audit, the political sphere focused on political strife rather than policy, drawing assessments that it strayed far from its original purpose.
According to the National Assembly on the 30th, of the 17 standing committees, 14 excluding concurrent committees will conclude the audit with a comprehensive session that day. The audits held by the 14 standing committees ran for 17 days starting on the 13th. The concurrent committees — the Steering Committee, the Gender Equality and Family Committee, and the Intelligence Committee — plan to conduct audits of the relevant agencies from Nov. 4 to 6.
The places where ruling and opposition clashes stood out in this year's audit were the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Choo Mi-ae, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chairperson, and Choi Min-hee, the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee chairperson — both classified as hard-liners in the Democratic Party of Korea — drove "issue making," drawing assessments that political strife overshadowed policy. In addition, a secondary controversy erupted over independent lawmaker Choi Hyuk-jin's doctored photo scandal and the "Kim Woo-young–Park Jeong-hoon profanity text message" incident.
From the 13th, when the audit began, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, led by the Democratic Party, pushed ahead with questioning of Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, causing a commotion. Throughout the audit, judicial and prosecution reform was placed on the table, and ruling and opposition lawmakers clashed. Chairperson Choo repeatedly used order-keeping powers such as warnings, bans on speaking, and expulsions, drawing criticism for running the audit unilaterally.
During the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee audit, Chairperson Choi's daughter's wedding was mentioned day after day. Chairperson Choi held her daughter's wedding at Sarangjae in the National Assembly on the 18th, during the audit period. The wedding of Chairperson Choi's child had been controversial even before the audit began, and criticism from the People Power Party intensified after it was revealed that Chairperson Choi received congratulatory money and wreaths from audited agencies. The wedding of Chairperson Choi's child is also spilling over into calls for the standing committee chair to step down.
Officials from ministries under the jurisdiction of the standing committees voiced concern over the "policy-missing" audit. When lawmakers focus on political strife, government officials have fewer chances to be embarrassed during the audit, but it means the legislature's oversight function needed for governing has become too weak. An official at an agency audited by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee said, "It's confusing whether this is a parliamentary audit or their own political stage," while an official at an agency audited by the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee complained, "There was so little discussion about running the government that, frankly, I'm worried."
The Seoul City audit conducted by the Public Administration and Security Committee on the 23rd devolved into a tussle over the "Myeong Tae-gyun gate." Lawmakers from both parties set aside follow-up measures to the government's Oct. 15 real estate policy package and instead rushed to probe the relationship between Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and "political broker" Myeong Tae-gyun. Discussion of real estate policy went missing, and all that remained was watching Myeong's loud shouts and irritation in response to lawmakers' questions.
Disappointment with the audit is growing. When Gallup Korea asked 1,005 voters nationwide from Oct. 29 to 31 last year whether the parliamentary audit produced results, 22% said it did and 51% said it did not. In a survey Gallup Korea conducted of 1,003 voters nationwide from Oct. 24 to 26 the previous year, only 15% responded that the audit produced results. For details, refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.
Amid rising disappointment, the "abolish the audit" argument is reemerging. Lee Jun-han, a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Incheon, said, "The audit rehashed issues that had already come out in the media over the past few months and proceeded at a superficial level," adding, "So-called 'impactful' oversight was lacking, and outside factors turned the audit on its head."
He went on, "It will become more difficult for the audit to play a role in uncovering new facts across overall government operations," adding, "Rather than the audit, routine standing committee activities are likely to become more active, and the audit's status and role could increasingly diminish."