Management strengthened amid controversy over waste of taxpayers’ money over foreign business trips by local lawmakers |

In the future, pre- and post-management will be strengthened to prevent local council members from going on simple business trips.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 13th that it would recommend to local councils to revise the ‘Local Council Official Overseas Business Trip Rules Standard (draft)’ in the direction of strengthening the pre- and post-review procedures for official overseas business trips.

This revision of the overseas business trip rules is a follow-up to the revelation of cases in which local council members who went on overseas business trips over the past three years wasted tax money by submitting inflated airline ticket prices.

First, advance management of business trips will be strengthened. The local council posted a business trip plan on its website 45 days before departure to collect residents’ opinions. Previously, business trip plans approved by the Official Overseas Business Trip Review Committee were required to be posted within 3 days after review, but this has been strengthened.

Follow-up management after business trips is also strengthened. Initially, the result report was to be submitted to the permit holder within 15 days after the business trip and reported to the National Assembly within 60 days, but from now on, the legality and appropriateness of the business trip results will be reviewed by the review committee after the business trip. In addition, the review results were made public along with the business trip plan and result report that were previously released. The data must also be registered in the Local Administrative Comprehensive Information Disclosure System, Internal Failure Notification, and the Official Overseas Business Trip Training System.

Local council members report the results to the local council plenary session and standing committee, and if disciplinary action occurs, it is referred to the special ethics committee. Once disciplinary action is confirmed through the Special Ethics Committee, the person subject to disciplinary action and the type of disciplinary action must be registered in ‘My Fault Notification’.

The independence of the review committee is also strengthened. In the existing review committee, only more than two-thirds were made up of civilian members, and the rest were made up of local council members. With this revision, no more than two local council members, excluding traveling council members, can participate, and private members must go through public contest or external recommendation.
Measures have also been prepared to ensure appropriate budget execution during overseas business trips. Budget expenditures other than flights and lodging, car rental, and interpretation are prohibited. When traveling overseas, it is recommended to visit one institution per day, and the number of people involved is also kept to a minimum.