The chair of the country's anti-corruption commission has criticized the state audit agency's request for an investigation into past reviews of two politically sensitive cases made by the commission.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, chairperson Jeon Hyun-heui of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission reiterated that she did not inappropriately interfere in the reviews of allegations concerning the former justice minister and the killing of a fisheries official by North Korea.

Jeon said the Board of Audit and Inspection's request for an investigation is a tactic to embellish the results of its probe into the watchdog agency and claimed the board was abusing its power.

In the case of alleged preferential treatment for the son of former justice minister Choo Mi-ae, Jeon explained that she simply sent a letter to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office seeking clarification.

She also denied involvement in the commission’s inconclusive determination regarding the former Moon Jae-in administration’s handling of a case in which a fisheries official was killed by the North Korean military in 2020.

The audit agency had earlier referred Jeon to the prosecution on suspicion that she exerted inappropriate influence on the commission's review of past cases.