Board of Audit and Inspection releases key findings from public-interest audit request
The Board of Audit and Inspection said Wednesday it found operational inefficiencies and confusion at KBS after auditing a public-interest complaint alleging that KBS President Park Jang-bum had violated the independence of the broadcaster's internal audit division — including running more department heads in the audit office than the authorized headcount allows.
In response, the board called for Park to handle related matters in accordance with applicable regulations, issuing him a formal Caution.
The board released the key findings of its audit into the public-interest complaint regarding the KBS president's alleged violations of audit independence.
The audit found that KBS had operated two department heads in its audit office for about eight months, exceeding the authorized number of one.
A court ruling in June 2024 had reinstated the original department heads to the audit office, but the newly appointed heads were kept in place as well, resulting in two people jointly performing the same duties.
The overlap led to duplication and confusion, with both department heads reviewing roughly 100 routine audit cases per month and splitting staff evaluations between them.
Conflict between Park and the KBS auditor was also confirmed over personnel matters within the audit office.
Between June and September 2025, the KBS auditor made a total of nine requests to Park to replace five department heads — the audit office chief and four audit division heads — but Park refused, citing reasons including a pending injunction case before the Supreme Court related to the appointment of the auditor's successor.
Even after the Supreme Court ultimately granted the injunction, the auditor's personnel requests were not accepted. KBS's audit operations regulations require that assignments and transfers of audit office staff be carried out at the auditor's request.
The KBS auditor and 647 employees filed the public-interest audit complaint in August last year, alleging that Park had violated the auditor's independence.
The complaint covered four areas: operating more audit office department heads than the authorized number, refusing the auditor's personnel appointment requests for audit office department heads, the president's violation of audit independence, and obstruction of audits through refusal to provide responses and documents. The board audited the two areas related to audit department head personnel matters.
The audit findings also incorporated results from a regular audit of KBS.
In the course of that audit, the board found that an outside drama series production company had submitted falsified tax invoices to inflate actor fees beyond the actual amounts paid, pocketing the difference.
The board notified KBS to take measures including filing a complaint against the production company with prosecutors.
sang@heraldcorp.com
