▲ Roh Tae-ak, former Chairperson of the National Election Commission, bows while issuing a public apology regarding the ballot shortage incident at the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the 5th.
It has been confirmed that Roh Tae-ak, the former Chairperson of the National Election Commission (NEC), was accompanied by his spouse on all three of his overseas official trips during his term in office.
According to the "Overseas Business Trip Plan for Consultation on Exchange and Cooperation with Foreign Election Management Agencies" submitted by the NEC to Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Bu-nam today (June 18), former Chair Roh visited Germany and Estonia for 9 days and 7 nights in November 2024 with his spouse.
A total of 71.94 million won in NEC budget was spent on that trip, covering airfare, rail fares, living expenses, and preparation funds.
Furthermore, according to the NEC's "Overseas Business Trip Plan for the Development of Election Systems and Promotion of International Networks," former Chair Roh visited Denmark and Sweden for 10 days and 8 nights in November of last year.
This trip was also conducted with his spouse.
The total budget spent for this trip was 90.53 million won.
The NEC also reported to Rep. Yang that former Chair Roh was accompanied by his spouse on a trip to Australia and New Zealand from December 2 to 10, 2022, for the purpose of "collecting opinions on election and political systems and evaluating overseas voting."
However, it was found that the fact that his spouse accompanied him on these three overseas trips was not mentioned in the post-trip reports that the NEC discloses to the public.
In response, the NEC explained, "We included the spouse's expenses when drafting the budget, considering the protocol befitting the status and role of a constitutional institution head," adding, "We plan to operate in a manner that meets the public's expectations in the future."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.