Auditor Choi Jae-hyung, auditor or politician-ohmynews

Kim Seong-hwan, a member of the Democratic Party’s Parliament (No Won-byeong, Seoul), sent and published an article on the auditing process for the establishment of the energy conversion policy. [편집자말]

The Board of Audit and Inspection initiated an audit of the government’s energy conversion policy establishment process. In response to the public interest audit request filed in 2019, it will audit whether the process of’establishing the basic energy plan and the basic electricity supply and demand plan’ was appropriate. It is incomprehensible to regard government policy as an object of audit. It seems that the time has come to go over it because there have been criticisms that the Audit Office has been doing’audit politics’ since several years ago.

There are two main purposes of appreciation by the Board of Audit and Inspection. The first is that the 8th Basic Plan for Power Supply and Demand (Basic) and the 3rd Basic Plan for Energy (Basic E) established by the Moon Jae-in administration are different from the comprehensive nuclear promotion plan announced at the time of the Park Geun-hye administration. The second is whether the basics were established according to the previous version, which is a sub-plan of the court. In other words, there is a basic framework established at the time of the Park Geun-hye administration in 2014, and the question is why the 2017 plan did not follow it.

If the Moon Jae-in government’s energy policy is different from that of the previous government, it is ‘illegal’?

The government’s policy is finally decided at the State Council. The Moon Jae-in administration also decided on the’Energy Conversion Roadmap’ at the 2017 State Council. Since then, various energy plans have been revised according to the direction. However, the Comprehensive Plan for Nuclear Promotion in 2017, discussed by the Board of Audit and Inspection, was established at the time of the Park Geun-hye administration. How should we understand the perception that the government, which promised to gradually reduce nuclear power plants, should formulate policies in line with the plans of the previous government, which was neglected by the public? With such a logic, Korea’s policy must be absolutely immutable.

▲ President Moon Jae-in tours the floating solar power facility after completing the “Saemangeum Renewable Energy Vision Declaration Ceremony” held on October 30, 2018 at a floating solar power site in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do.
Ⓒ Blue House	View related photos

In addition, national plans have a time of establishment prescribed by each law. The first edition and the basic edition announced after the Moon Jae-in administration was inaugurated were only the legal deadline. On the other hand, since the nuclear energy promotion plan was established in January 2017, it can only be changed in 2022.

Nevertheless, it is only forcibly to argue why the previous version and the basic E-base were not aligned with the nuclear program. The nuclear power plan is also being pursued with the aim of changing in early 2022.

The auditor’s unguarded person ignores the judgment of the judiciary

It is also difficult to understand the purpose of the second audit that the previous version released in 2017 was different from the higher-level plan announced by the previous government and that the illegality should be considered. This is also because even if a new government is established, it will be considered illegal if it is different from the previous government policy.

In addition, there are already Supreme Court precedents for this. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiff’s loss of a request for withdrawal of a sub-plan against the’Water Resources Long-Term Comprehensive Plan’, the highest legal plan in the water resources sector. “The upper plan is not legally binding on the lower plan, so even if the plans are different, it cannot be considered illegal.” The auditor cannot be unaware of this ruling. The Ministry of Industry also announced that it had already delivered this to the Audit Office. This is the point where it can only be seen that the auditor has other intentions.

This is not the first time that the Board of Audit and Inspection has conducted an audit against a court ruling. Despite the court ruling that the early closure of Wolsong Unit 1 was already legal, the Board of Audit and Inspection enforced an audit of Wolsong Unit 1. It was two times in a row that the auditor ignored the judgment of the judiciary. This is why mockery of’Are you an auditor or a politician?’

Auditor Choi Jae-hyung politicizes distorted beliefs

▲ Choi Jae-hyung, Director of Audit and Inspection. The picture shows the person being locked in thought with his eyes closed while attending the general meeting of the Legislative Judicial Council held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the morning of November 16.
Ⓒ Joint coverage photo	View related photos

Auditor Choi Jae-hyung, who is leading the political audit, recently mentioned that nuclear power is “the confidence of God.” This is a representative example of how the philosopher Nietzsche’s words that false beliefs are more dangerous than lies are revealed in reality.

On the other hand, the request for appreciation for himself was self-dismissed. It dismissed the civil society’s request for a public interest audit by illegally conducting an audit on the Wolseong Unit 1, where safety issues arose.

In addition, the Wolseong Unit 1 audit did not deal with the stability issue that more than the standard level of tritium was emitted for 7 years, and evaluated only the economic feasibility. It’s amazing. Director Choi Jae-hyeong should be honest now. The public safety issue should be completely turned away, and the reason for deliberately mongrel in energy conversion policy should be revealed.

Abandon Procrustes’ Bed

Among the Greek myths we know well, there is an anecdote of’Procrustes’ Bed’. It is a terrifying story that Procrustes caught a passing traveler and laid him on his bed, cut off the remaining legs if he was taller, and stretched his body to fit the length of the bed if he was short.

Auditor Choi Jae-hyung has created a distorted standard that “energy conversion is evil, and nuclear energy is a divine revelation” and threatens our society accordingly. It is not too late even now. The audit on the energy conversion policy should be completely stopped, and an audit on the tritium leakage problem of Wolseong Unit 1 should begin. That’s what the people want to do.