A forum was held to seek ways to resolve problems such as excessive requests for materials during the period of National Assembly inspections and administrative audits.
The Korean Government Employees' Union Confederation (KGEUC) on the 27th held "Waste of administrative capacity during National Assembly inspections and administrative audits: How do we fix it?" in meeting room No. 4 at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
At the forum, Koh Mun-hyeon, president of the Korea ESG Society, served as moderator, and Jo Jeong-chan, head of Legislative Q&A, gave a presentation on "A survey of practices in responding to National Assembly inspections and plans to build cooperative governance between the legislature and the administration."
Panelists included Kim Myeong-su, Chairperson of the National Metropolitan Cities and Provinces Government Employees' Union Federation, Ju Han-jun, Chairperson of the Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) branch of the National Government Employees' Union, Lee Su-jong, member of the Subcommittee of the Policy Alliance Party, Park Yun-mi, deputy managing editor of Monday Newspaper, and Kang Gi-cheol, former National Assembly aide.
During the discussion, participants noted that National Assembly inspections and administrative audits by local councils are leading to heavy workloads for working-level officials at audited agencies and to wasted administrative capacity. They said it is not uncommon to receive phone calls the day before an inspection or a work report demanding materials, or to be asked again for materials that were already submitted.
Jo Jeong-chan said, "During inspections, excessive demands for materials, tight submission deadlines, repeated and overlapping requests, and unreasonable on-site practices continue," and added, "When questions are received late, working-level staff are also assigned to overnight standby and to drafting response materials."
In a survey on "preparing for submissions for National Assembly inspections" conducted by the KGEUC in May, 45% of national and firefighting officials and 56% of metropolitan city and provincial officials responded that preparing materials for National Assembly inspections "is impossible without overtime." It was found that 36% and 34%, respectively, also responded that they "worked more than 10 days of overtime per year" to prepare for the inspections.
In a survey asking about "cases of being repeatedly asked for materials similar to those already submitted," 35% of national and firefighting officials answered "seven times or more," and 59% of metropolitan city and provincial officials answered "three times or more."
In administrative audits, responses that preparing submission materials "is impossible without overtime" came to 61% for metropolitan cities and provinces, 66% for cities, counties, and districts, and 59% for metropolitan and provincial offices of education. It was found that 58%, 44%, and 50%, respectively, also said they were "asked again three times or more" for materials similar to those already submitted.
Chairperson Kim Myeong-su said, "Instead of unions responding individually every year to excessive demands for materials, institutional safeguards should be put in place so that unnecessary demands do not arise in the first place."
Proposed institutional solutions included: ▲ establishing concrete standards to limit excessive requests for materials ▲ guaranteeing sufficient preparation time and introducing a prior-notice system ▲ building databases of identical or similar materials and establishing systems for continuous sharing and use ▲ creating a standing pre-consultation channel before material requests are finalized.
Chairperson Gong Ju-seok of the KGEUC said, "We should reduce unnecessary materials, eliminate duplicate requests and excessive protocol, and create an 'audit worthy of the name' that properly holds policies and responsibilities to account."