Board of Audit and Inspection conducts first regular audit of Supreme Court in five years since 2021

Audit uncovers 12 violations and irregularities, resulting in notifications and Caution measures

Additional budget spending found in IT equipment maintenance contract

The Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]
The Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]

The Supreme Court paid its justices monthly cash bonuses of around 2 million won ($1,450) without any legal basis, an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection has found.

The Board of Audit and Inspection released the findings of its regular audit of the Supreme Court on Monday. The audit uncovered a total of 12 violations and irregularities, prompting notification and Caution measures.

The findings drew attention as they were released amid ongoing tensions between Cheong Wa Dae and the judiciary over the nomination of Supreme Court justices. The board said it conducted the audit because the court had not undergone a regular audit since 2021, adding that the review was intended to assess the appropriateness of its fiscal activities and promote sound institutional management.

As a constitutionally independent institution, the court is exempt from the board's operational inspections, but as a state agency it is subject to the board's accounting audits covering its budget and finances. This audit focused on budget execution and accounting practices at the Supreme Court and the National Court Administration.

The audit found that the Supreme Court had paid monthly cash bonuses of around 2 million won to justices and the chief of the National Court Administration, in violation of budget execution guidelines.

Separately from the 5.12 million won in special duty expenses paid monthly to each of the 12 justices, the National Court Administration regularly paid average cash bonuses of 2 million won twice a month from 2022 through April 2024.

The chief of the National Court Administration — who oversees the court's administrative affairs and supervises its staff under the direction of the chief justice — received even larger amounts. The chief received monthly cash bonuses of 3 million won during the same period, and in some months the figure exceeded 4 million won.

The total paid in such bonuses from 2022 through September 2025 came to 1.299 billion won.

The board noted that under the Supreme Court's budget execution guidelines, bonuses may be paid to outstanding departments and employees but regular payments without a legal basis are prohibited. It issued a Caution to the National Court Administration, ordering it to strictly manage related affairs to ensure no further regular bonus payments are made to the chief.

The audit also found that budget funds were spent unnecessarily in an IT equipment maintenance contract.

In January 2024, the National Court Administration signed a maintenance contract for IT equipment with a vendor — identified only as Company A — covering 2024 and 2025 at 7.9 billion won per year.

At the time, Company A had specified a Windows operating system upgrade in its proposal and project execution plan, and the National Court Administration notified the vendor that the item was included in the project scope following negotiations.

However, the National Court Administration added a Windows 11 upgrade as a separate task in April 2025, citing a verbal agreement reached by working-level staff during negotiations to exclude it from the original contract.

This led to a contract increase of 650 million won, which the board determined to be an unnecessary expenditure.


sang@heraldcorp.com