[Editorial] Bad auditors

The National Assembly’s annual inspection of the government is a unique institution in that lawmakers audit almost all major ministries and public offices, including the prosecution and the court, in a short period of time.

On the surface, it is a fairly good democratic institution as it intends to ensure checks and balances among the three branches of government, with the legislature acting as a watchdog against the executive and judiciary branches. In fact, the yearly parliamentary audit exposes problems with government policies and wrongdoings committed by civil servants. 

But these positive aspects of the parliamentary undertaking are often overshadowed by criticisms -- some of them repeated almost every year. 

For starters, the audit covers too many offices over too short a period of time. This year, the audit will cover a record 779 agencies in 16 working days. This means each parliamentary committee will have questioned an average of three to four agencies -- and in some cases even 10 -- in a day.

Another common problem is that lawmakers tend to abuse their power. The prime example is their excessive, indiscriminate demand to call people, including civilians, to testify before the parliamentary committees.    

Most troubling is that some lawmakers exploit the annual audit to demean and tame whoever they feel necessary. Their most frequent targets are chaebol owners and executives.

This year, 68 of the total of 159 civilians who had been called to the witness stand before the start of the audit Thursday are businesspeople, and the list will grow longer as the audit proceeds. For instance, Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin will appear before a committee on the day it will question the Fair Trade Commission.

It is nothing wrong with the parliament looking into the controversial governance structure and management system at Lotte, which surfaced during the Shin family’s power struggle to control the fifth-largest conglomerate.

But strictly speaking, lawmakers’ duty is to question government officials -- like those from the FTC -- who are responsible for regulating corporate governance if there were some problems with a company and make sure the problems are addressed.

But lawmakers have no qualms about using the audit to implicate the big guys. Almost the entire who’s who of the Korean corporate world -- including the chiefs of Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG and SK -- is sought by lawmakers almost every year.

One episode could help you understand how misguided and silly some of the demands are: A member of the Agriculture Committee wanted to call Hyundai Motor Group chief Chung Mong-koo to the witness stand to hear about his thoughts on FTAs, which the lawmaker alleged that favors automakers at the expense of farmers.

This reminds us of why the lawmakers’ right to summon people for testimonies should be regulated. Another urgent reform is to reduce the number of agencies subject to the audit. The best change would be to spread the audit throughout the year.