North Chungcheong audit: lawmakers press governor on provincial debt and senior aide hires

Governor Shin Yong-han of North Chungcheong Province faced questions on the province's debt and on his senior aide appointments at the National Assembly audit held at the provincial office in Cheongju on 20 October. Newsis said the audit by the Public Administration and Security Committee was the first on-site audit of the province in two years and the first of the ninth elected term. [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]

Lee Kwang-hee of the Democratic Party said provincial debt rose by 1.026 trillion won during the four years of the eighth elected term under former governor Kim Young-hwan. He asked Shin to verify the cause and the borrowing decisions. Lee said the nine main projects of the previous administration cited by the ninth-term transition committee come to about 170 billion won in total, so about 850 billion won of the increase has no known use, and he asked for the spending to be made public. Shin replied that the province would repay more than half of its external debt through spending restructuring. [ 3 , 4 ]

People Power Party members attacked the hiring of senior aides. Ju Ho-young criticised the appointment of Park Byung-guk, the external cooperation adviser (grade 2 equivalent), asking whether officials could be told to be clean after a person jailed for bribery was hired. Yonhap reported that Park was indicted in 2012, while serving as a police officer, over money taken from a company, and received a final sentence of two years and six months in July the following year. Ju also said that someone who had spent nearly 30 years in the police had no experience in general administration and that the hire could be taken as bringing in a member of the "Lee Jae-myung family". [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Yonhap and Kyunghyang Shinmun, citing Ju, said Park received a suspended-prosecution disposition over a disturbance at a cafe in 2021 while he worked at the Gyeonggi market and commercial district agency. Seoul Shinmun quoted Ju as saying Park was removed from his post over the incident. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Park Deok-heum said political adviser Lee Jae-han (grade 2 equivalent) did not meet the hiring plan's requirement of nine or more years of related experience after a bachelor's degree, as his record was three months at the National Assembly secretariat and five years at the Democratic Party. He also said 21 of Lee's 25 out-of-office trips in August and September were to a district where Lee once ran for office. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Shin said Park Byung-guk was recommended as the right person to deal with the province's finances and debt, and that he would deal firmly with him if he produced no results. Of Lee Jae-han, Shin said there was no practical disqualification, so he was hired, but that he would pay more attention in future, according to Yonhap and Kyunghyang Shinmun. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

In the afternoon the audit team was scheduled to move to the North Chungcheong police agency. Newsis said the issues were expected to include delayed investigations, the fairness of the local election investigation and staff misconduct; none of the documents reports how that session went. [ 1 ]