It has been confirmed that former National Election Commission (NEC) Chairperson Noh Tae-ak personally approved his own overseas business trips accompanied by his spouse.
According to approval documents submitted by the NEC to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook, Noh personally provided the final approval for all his overseas trips accompanied by his wife: a 2022 trip to Australia and New Zealand, a 2024 trip to Germany and Estonia, and a trip to Denmark and Sweden last year.
The documents include a list of travelers and the costs incurred, with a note in the remarks column next to Noh's name indicating that his spouse was accompanying him.
The costs for these trips, including the portion for Noh's wife, amounted to approximately 64 million won, 72 million won, and 90.5 million won, respectively.
Under the Ministry of Personnel Management's regulations on public official travel expenses, which the NEC applies internally, the spouse of a public official is eligible to receive travel expense support only when traveling for the performance of official duties.
A typical example would be when an inviting overseas organization plans an event for couples.
However, it was confirmed that Noh's wife only attended dinners hosted by the local South Korean ambassadors during all three trips.
The local election commissions in countries such as Australia and Germany never hosted any events for couples.
Noh's wife used flights 10 times across the three trips, and with the exception of two flights during the Australia and New Zealand trip, she traveled in business class every time.
For last year's trip alone, 13.11 million won was paid for airfare.
Excluding expenses such as meals, the total cost for airfare and accommodation for Noh's wife amounted to 41.29 million won.
Previously, during a National Assembly special committee hearing on June 23, Noh stated that it had been standard practice to go on trips with spouses and that he had not questioned whether it was problematic because there had been no objections.
At the same time, he said that if there were any inappropriate aspects, he would seek ways to return the relevant costs.
[Voice: Noh Tae-ak / Former Chairperson of the National Election Commission (June 23): "From the current perspective, I feel deeply sorry that it appears this way to the public. I will seek ways to return (the overseas travel expenses)."]
A joint investigation team of prosecutors and police is currently investigating Noh on charges of occupational embezzlement.
Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Lee Eui-seon | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
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