State auditors accused of invasion of privacy

By Kim Susan Se-jeong

A man in civil service claims the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) violated his privacy while inspecting the institution he works at, leading to the breakup of his family.

The civil servant, 51, was investigated by the BAI for nine months, from July 2011 to April 2012. He was called in and questioned nine times.

During the process, he claims the inspectors used carrot and stick approach, alternating between applying pressure and using coercion. According to the man, this led to the invasion of privacy that tore apart his stressed family.

“The inspectors bullied and tried to force me into admitting fault instead of doing an objective inspection,” said the civil servant. “They forced me to agree to a sign a consent form allowing them to track my account and call history.”

He went on to claim that the inspectors’ sexually derogatory remarks and illegal surveillance invaded his family’s rights.

“They forced me to unlock the password on my cellphone, and when they saw the number of my friend’s wife, they asked me if I slept with her,” he said. “They even made similar remarks about my daughter. I wanted to die from the hurt and the shame.”

The inspectors forbade him from leaving the country or resigning. According to the 51-year-old, they continued to make inappropriate remarks.

“They said I would serve seven years for lies and prostitution, and asked me questions like ‘Who did you sleep with at the motel?’ and ‘How many times did you sleep with your wife at a motel?’” he said.

According to the civil servant, the inspectors laughed at him while reading out his conversations on KakaoTalk, a mobile messaging application, and copied around 1,000 numbers from his cell phone onto a laptop. “They kept asking me how I came to drink with the people on my call history,” he said.

He claims they tried to convince him to confess, saying, “Just say that the district chief told you to do it. Why do you want to take all the blame?” According to the man, they told him they would give him a lighter sentence if he admitted to receiving around two million to three million won.

When he rejected the offer, they threatened him with full charges.

The civil servant was diagnosed with depression and is currently receiving outpatient treatment after leaving hospital. He has also attempted suicide twice. He survived both times, once because his wife stopped him and once due to luck.

Due to the incident, he fought with his wife more and more frequently. Eventually, they split and he paid his wife tens of millions of won in a divorce settlement.

He filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission for slander and human rights violation on May 7. He accused the BAI of “corruption and violence.”

“He didn’t sign the consent form [due to pressure],” said an accused inspector, who added that they never asked the civil servant if he slept with his friend’s wife. “There were no human rights violations.”

However, the BAI has asked the institution in question to suspend the civil servant and has contacted the prosecution.

The writer is a Korea Times intern.