Thoroughly investigate the data manipulation

The controversy over the findings of statistics distortion by the previous government from the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) is set to cause another firestorm. The governing People Power Party accused the previous government of committing a “scam” against the people upon the revelation that officials under President Moon Jae-in had extensively tampered with housing and other economic data to put the public policies in a favorable light. The presidential office denounced the former government for “deceiving the public by manipulating statistics, which is the basis for government policies.”

The BAI’s claims are shocking indeed. It found methodical distortion in government data, including housing prices, and filed charges on 22 former senior officials, including the four policy chiefs to Moon — Jang Ha-sung, Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Sang-jo and Lee Ho-seung. Former senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Hong Jang-pyo, former secretary on jobs Hwang Deok-soon, former Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee, former Statistics Korea chief Kang Shin-wook, former vice land minister Yoon Sung-won, and former heads of Korea Real Estate Board Kim Hak-kyu and Sohn Tae-rak also were included. They are accused of having interfered with national statistics to cover up the failures in the liberal administration’s key policies, such as the income-led growth policy.

According to Choi Dal-young, the first deputy secretary general of the BAI, the Blue House and the Land Ministry exercised “illicit influence” over the Korea Real Estate Board to manipulate housing data for more than 94 times from 2017 to 2021. Another BAI official said that documents and evidence support their interference for distortion in 94 cases. The revelation is just on housing data. The BAI also accused the former government of misleading the public on household income data to feign an improvement in wealth distribution. The Moon administration flagged the data as the first improvement in income distribution since 2015 thanks to its income-led growth policy.

Manipulating national statistics is a serious crime. If the BAI finding is true, the former officials cannot avoid accountability. Distortion of data can influence policy and cause serious damage to the economy, not to mention the country’s international credibility. Only communist or authoritarian governments manipulate data to mask their economic reality. Officials of the former government are protesting strongly. The group of presidential aides and ministers under the Moon government accused the BAI of manipulation with political intentions. Moon also shared a recent report by the Korea Labor & Society Institute, which found our employment rate the highest during Moon’s term.

The issue must be thoroughly examined by the prosecution. Only objective investigation and fair trial can silence the suspicion of a “politically-biased” audit report.