Population, Health and Welfare Association Audit Chief Caught Misusing National Assembly Access Pass

An audit department chief at the Population, Health and Welfare Association was caught attempting to enter the National Assembly members' office building on the afternoon of the 21st while using an access pass issued in the association president's name with his own photo pasted over it. On the 22nd, lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties defined the act as a serious crime constituting forgery of an official document and demanded strong action.

Rep. Baek Jong-heon of the People Power Party said at the Health and Welfare Committee's parliamentary audit on the 22nd that he had been informed of the incident, which occurred at around 5:20 p.m. the previous day, adding, "What is even more shocking is that this audit chief had his own access pass separately." According to Rep. Baek, the audit chief handed his own access pass to a researcher at his affiliated institute and attempted to use the pass issued in the association president's name with his own photo attached.

Rep. Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, the ruling party's secretary on the committee, said, "National Assembly access passes are official documents issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, and replacing the photo constitutes forgery of an official document, while using it for entry amounts to using a forged document — a serious crime." He added, "Apart from the parliamentary audit, the committee itself must take strong measures."

The association reportedly decided to suspend the audit chief from his position. This is the first official action taken amid lawmakers' calls for the association president to step down.