Audit commissioner Yu Byeong-ho indicted on charges of suppressing presidential residence audit

The Board of Audit and Inspection said Friday it feels "a grave sense of responsibility that goes beyond mere regret" for causing public concern, following the indictment of audit commissioner Yu Byeong-ho on charges of suppressing an audit related to the presidential residence during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

The board issued the statement, titled "Position of the Board of Audit and Inspection," after special prosecutor Kwon Chang-young's team indicted Yu on charges of quashing an audit into the relocation of President Yoon's official residence.

"We will make every effort to reflect deeply on this incident and reinvent ourselves as an institution that carries out the duties entrusted to us by the Constitution and the law without wavering," the board said, adding that it would "watch the upcoming trial proceedings with gravity and humility."

The special prosecutor team announced Friday that it had indicted Yu on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights. It is the first time a sitting vice-minister-level audit commissioner has been indicted and detained.

Yu is accused of repeatedly contacting the Presidential Secretariat — the subject of the audit — between February and March 2023 while serving as secretary general of the Board of Audit and Inspection under the Yoon administration, and suppressing the audit into the presidential residence relocation.

Investigators found that Yu, acting on a request from the presidential office's public service discipline secretariat, ordered that interior design firm 21 Gram — which had ties to first lady Kim Keon Hee — be investigated through written inquiry rather than in person. The board had already notified 21 Gram of an in-person investigation, but the method changed to a written one after Yu reprimanded the audit team leader, according to the investigation.