Jeon Yong-gi: "'Blue Whale' Cannot End with Audit, Must Be Probed by Special Counsel"

Jeon Yong-gi, a supreme council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, called for a special counsel investigation, criticizing the deep-sea gas field development in the East Sea (Donghae) pushed by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration—the so-called "Blue Whale project"—as "a political show to shift the political situation."

Lawmaker Jeon stated this on his social media today (September 17), noting that the Board of Audit and Inspection confirmed seven cases of illegalities and irregularities, including violations of the State Contract Act and inadequate verification, in the process of carrying out the Blue Whale project.

Regarding the "up to 14 billion barrels" announced by former President Yoon Suk Yeol, Jeon particularly pointed out, "It was a number that simply added up the most optimistic maximum estimates that could come from the seven promising structures."

He went on to argue, "The probability that all those maximums would become reality is 0.000218%, or about 1 in 460,000," adding, "Faced with a possibility that might happen barely once in 460,000 times, they heavily promoted it to the public as if 14 billion barrels could actually be produced."

He then criticized, "It was truly nothing more than a political show to shift the political situation."

Jeon also mentioned that independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who was the leader of the People Power Party at the time, wrote three days before the declaration of emergency martial law that [the opposition] had "blown away even the budget for the future of the Republic of Korea," including the Blue Whale project.

Questioning Han, Jeon asked, "What did you verify before calling Blue Whale the 'future of the Republic of Korea'?" and pressed, "Did you verify the grounds for the 14 billion barrels, the selection process for Act-Geo, and the concerns raised by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy?"

Jeon continued, "He cannot be free from the responsibility of taking down and defending the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's claims without properly scrutinizing them," emphasizing, "This is not something that should end merely with an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection. We must thoroughly uncover through a special counsel under whose instructions, based on what grounds, and through what procedures the Blue Whale project, into which a massive national budget was invested, was carried out."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.