Hwang Soo-gyeong’s statement that there was “blue pressure”
Kang Shin-wook “There were no improper instructions or interventions”
It is known that the Board of Audit and Inspection, which has been monitoring major statistical manipulations during the Moon Jae-in administration, recently investigated Hwang Su-kyung, former head of the National Bureau of Statistics, and Kang Shin-wook, former head of the National Statistical Office.
According to the 15 policy circle, the Board of Audit and Inspection recently directly called the former heads of the National Bureau of Statistics and investigated the process before and after Hwang’s resignation in 2018. Hwang, the first head of the National Bureau of statistics of the Moon Jae-in administration, was replaced by Kang in August 2018, 13 months after taking office, after the National Bureau of Statistics announced that “income distribution indicators have deteriorated growth.”
At the time, former commissioner Hwang said at his resignation ceremony, “We need to make accurate and reliable statistics so that we can see the policy right away,” “Objectivity is important in statistics.” It has been said that this is where the National Statistical Institute should stick to, adding strength to the “hard theory”.
Former Commissioner Hwang is said to have made a statement during the Board of Audit and Inspection’s investigation that there was pressure from the Blue House related to the statistics at the time and that he refused.
On the other hand, former Commissioner Kang denied it, saying: “There were no unreasonable instructions or interventions.” It is known that the Audit and Control Commission is also conducting an investigation of the current staff of the Statistics Office to confirm the suspicion of manipulation of statistics. Since the end of September, the Board of Audit and Inspection has conducted an audit of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation, the National Bureau of Statistics and the Korea Real Estate Agency regarding the preparation and use of key government statistics .
Journalist Choi Ji-sun aurinko@donga.com
