Ferrydude, that's a tough audit. You have to give them credit. An audit is mainly about the paperwork of course, and only an internal audit would be able to prove that the personnel were actually following the procedures, but the assumption in any audit is that this is the case.
I read here a lot of criticism about ex-military pilots, but I was one of those and I don't think it hurt me. In fact I was proud of my military training, which I considered better than anything I have experienced in the civilian field. The Korean pilots also have excellent training, and many have superior flying skills, as well as above average education. The maintenance department does an exceptional job and all the airplanes are in tip-top condition, with hardly ever a MEL sticker to be seen.
Yet I know, from personal experience, that they are always only a heart-beat away from a disaster. They can take a perfectly serviceable airplane and turn it into an accident site.
The rigid social structure they have is ingrained and I cannot see how it can be changed. I used to think that the Cheju pilots would move the airline away from that as they gained commands and moved into management, but the indoctrination they get, and the advantages they see to those using the current system, makes them rigid too, and as converts they will be even worse. I tried to help the First Officers while I was there, even though I was not chosen for a training role, but even if I had a good point, the FO was forced to ignore my advice if it differed from that he had been given by his Korean IP, since to accept it would put him in conflict and the only outcome would be that he would be slapped down.
The line trainers and line Captains have the real power and influence. Simulator trainers cannot influence the way that the procedures are used, or affect the thinking processes. Like an audit, sim training only measures the paperwork. If the line trainers are incompetent, then the students will be also. When the students become trainers, the standard will be much lower than it started out, and when that group moves into training, lower still. The only way to break the cycle is to improve the standards of the line training, something that looks to me to be impossible, given the way the airline is organised now, and the emphasis on paperwork (procedures, rules, FOQA etc). The standard of knowledge is abysmal, and it is what you don't know, or, worse, that you don't know you don't know, that will kill you.
I don't know how it fits, but the foreign pilots also had, many times, a military background, and come from all over the world, including Indonesia, Bulgaria, Brazil and so on, yet they, despite the lack of training given by the airline (and in many cases negative training) continue to operate safely. The only difference I could see between the two groups is in the Korean culture. Since that cannot be changed, only hidden, maybe there cannot be progress.