South Korea's audit agency creates climate bureau in 1,052-post overhaul

South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection (감사원) has created a Climate and Environment Audit Bureau (기후ᆞ환경감사국) and redrawn the supervision of every ministry, under Audit and Inspection Rule No. 391 (감사원규칙 제391호), published in the Official Gazette (관보) No. 21326 of 21 September 2026. The rule, signed by BAI Chairman Kim Ho-chul (김호철), amends the Organisation of the Audit and Inspection Secretariat (감사원사무처 직제 일부개정령) and takes effect on the day of promulgation. It fixes the agency’s establishment at 1,052 posts.

The BAI presents the amendment as part of its goal of “an audit the public trusts, an audit that stands upright”. The text rewrites Article 1 of the establishment rule, renames and merges audit bureaus, creates a deliberation office and a strategic planning post, and replaces both annexes: the staffing table and the table allocating duties by bureau.

Annex 1 sets the total establishment at 1,052 positions — one political-service post, the Secretary General, and 1,051 general-service posts, of which 23 belong to the Senior Audit Officials Service. Article 2 raises one post from grade 6 to “grade 5 or grade 6”.

A climate bureau and a broader culture brief

The amendment reorders the audit bureaus:

• 국토ᆞ환경감사국 becomes 국토ᆞ안전감사국 (Land and Safety Audit Bureau).
• 행정ᆞ안전감사국 becomes 행정ᆞ문화감사국 (Administration and Culture Audit Bureau), widened in scope.
• 미래전략감사국 disappears, replaced in the list by 기후ᆞ환경감사국 (Climate and Environment Audit Bureau).
• 디지털감사국 is abolished; the reference to its director becomes the head of 국민제안감사2국.
• 지방행정감사2국 is retained.

The new climate bureau is responsible for audits of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, for “audits relating to responding to the climate and environmental crisis”, and for their affiliated bodies.

The expanded administration and culture bureau covers the presidential secretariat and security office, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the National Election Commission, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the prosecution service, the police, the National Heritage Administration and the Korea Broadcasting System, among others.

Deliberation office and strategic planning

The rule creates a Deliberation Office (심의실) as a unit directly under the Secretary General, headed by a member of the Senior Audit Officials Service. It assists the Secretary General on the proceedings of the Audit Commission, quality control of audit results, standards for audit dispositions and re-deliberation.

A Strategic Planning Officer (전략기획관) is placed under the head of the Planning and Coordination Office, also at senior level, to assist on audit strategy, analysis of the public benefit of audit results and AI-related informatisation.

Article 8 gains eight new duties, including legislative drafting and interpretation, administrative litigation, the administrative appeals committee, follow-up checks on audit results, and the operation of in-house AI and information systems and IT-based audit techniques.

What changes for audited bodies

The reorganisation reaches beyond the BAI’s own corridors: the bureau that audits the environment ministry, the weather service and the nuclear regulator is now a standing unit, and the redrawn duty table shifts which ministry answers to which audit bureau. For public bodies and companies under audit, the practical effect is a new interlocutor for climate and environmental files and a reinforced quality-control layer for audit findings.

Source: 관보 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21326, 21 September 2026, 【감사원】 section, p. 307 (official reference: 감사원규칙 제391호).