Top inspector under pressure to quit

Hwang Chang-hyun, chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI)

By Jung Min-ho

The head of the country’s top audit institution is facing increasing calls to quit over the perceived reluctance to carry out a state inspection of a controversial rivers development project.

Hwang Chang-hyun, chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), became the target of tens of thousands of critics online after officials said it would be difficult to launch an audit of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project anytime soon, despite President Moon Jae-in’s request Monday.

The officials reportedly claimed only the prime minister or ministers, but not the president, are legally allowed to issue such an order, which caused a torrent of criticism for “making a lame excuse” in news comment sections.

Many people have been raising various suspicions about him and are demanding his resignation.

Responding to the negative public opinion, Wednesday, a BAI official abruptly denied that the organization was hesitating, saying an audit may start soon.

Yet few believe the job will be done thoroughly under Hwang, who apparently was unsuccessful in keeping the government clean ― one of the BAI’s most important missions ― during his term.

Former President Park Geun-hye, who appointed Hwang as the BAI chief in 2013, has been ousted over alleged corruption that went on for years, and is now standing trial on 18 charges.

Hwang himself is not free from the corruption scandal that engulfed the Park administration.

During a hearing last month, former presidential secretary Jeong Ho-seong said Park told him to get “confirmation” of her friend Choi Soon-sil over candidates for key government posts, including the heads of the National Intelligence Service and the BAI, though he did not name specific people.

When Cho Han-kyu, the former CEO of the Segye Ilbo, a local daily, claimed last year that a deputy-prime-minister-level official took the post after offering 700 million won ($620) in bribes to Chung Yoon-hoi, Choi’s ex-husband, many people suspected it was Hwang, which the BAI denied in a statement.

Hwang’s four-year term will end Dec. 1.

The rivers development project, which was initiated to upgrade and repair the nation’s four major rivers ― the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan, was one of the flagship missions of former President Lee Myung-bak. His government spent more than 22 trillion won ($20 billion) on building 16 dams on the rivers, which has caused many environmental problems, such as increased algal blooms every summer.

An audit of the project was conducted three times ― but all under conservative governments when Lee or Park was in office. So many people want the new government to investigate it again.

Rep. Kim Young-joo of the ruling Democratic Party said during a meeting that demand for a thorough inspection of the project was not “political retaliation” as the right-wing Liberty Korea Party is trying to paint it, saying the people are entitled to know how exactly their tax money was spent.

Rep. Chu Hye-seon from the minor Justice Party also urged Hwang not to make any excuses and to launch an inspection immediately.