2024.06.10. The Fair Economy — The Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission announced on the 10th that it will begin a four-month inspection of overseas trips by local councilors, covering all 243 local councils, from this month through September.
In September last year, while verifying a corruption report alleging that a local council had wasted budget by paying a travel agency an excessive cancellation fee equivalent to 47% of the trip cost when canceling an overseas trip, the commission judged that other local councils were likely to have similar cases of overpaying cancellation fees. Accordingly, from March to April, it conducted on-site inspections of the overseas trip management of seven selected local councils.
The inspections revealed problems not only with excessive cancellation fees but across the entire management of local assemblies' overseas trips.
To eradicate junket-style overseas trips by local councils and improper budget execution practices, the commission decided to conduct a full-scale survey of the overall overseas trip management of all 243 local councils.
The inspection will combine document reviews and on-site checks of overseas trips by local councilors through September, focusing on junket-style overseas trips, falsification of overseas trip plans and result reports, violations of accounting and contract laws, and excessive payment of cancellation fees.
The commission plans to take strict action against any illegal conduct uncovered in the inspection, and to come up with measures, including institutional improvements, to prevent the waste of taxpayer money on overseas trips from recurring.
Meanwhile, local councils' overseas trips have repeatedly sparked controversy each year for including excessive sightseeing schedules, making them appear to be junket or tourism trips. There have also been persistent criticisms that the results of such trips are never reflected in policy, making their effectiveness imperceptible.
Indeed, in the commission's comprehensive integrity assessment of local councils conducted last year, which measured perceptions and experiences of corruption (integrity perception) regarding council operations, the "junket trip" category received the lowest rating. Local councils' overall integrity score (68.5 points) was considerably lower than that of administrative agencies and public-service-related organizations (80.5 points).
Yoo Cheol-hwan, chairperson of the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission, said, "This comprehensive inspection of local council members' overseas trips is being carried out in response to growing public demand for urgent measures against improper overseas trips, including junkets." He added, "Through this inspection, we will ensure that the improper budget-execution practices that recur every year, such as junket-style overseas trips, are resolved at their root."
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