▲ Former National Election Commission Chairperson Roh Tae-ak
The joint prosecution-police investigation team probing allegations of lax management and irregularities at the National Election Commission (NEC) has secured statements regarding former NEC Chairperson Roh Tae-ak's "suspected lavish overseas business trips," indicating that "the chairperson decides the overseas trip destinations."
The joint investigation team for fact-finding on the infringement of citizens' voting rights (led by Kim Tae-hoon, the 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office) secured statements yesterday (August 13) during the interrogation of an NEC official, to the effect that "the chairperson decided the countries to visit, and the chairperson was also aware of the budget allocation details for spouses."
The investigation revealed that the NEC would select and report candidate countries for trips, after which the chairperson made the final decision on the destination.
Previously, the joint investigation team also secured an official response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the report exclusively covered by SBS in June, confirming that none of the three overseas trips accompanied by former Chairperson Roh's spouse had invitations from the host countries.
Without invitations from the host countries, the chairperson reportedly handpicked the countries he wanted to visit for overseas business trips accompanied by his spouse.
Former Chairperson Roh was accompanied by his spouse on all three business trips: an 8-night, 9-day trip to Australia and New Zealand in December 2022; a 7-night, 9-day trip to Germany and Estonia in November 2024; and an 8-night, 10-day trip to Denmark and Sweden in November of last year.
Among these, budgets of 71.94 million won were spent on the trip to Germany and Estonia, and 90.53 million won on the trip to Denmark and Sweden.
It was found that former Chairperson Roh's spouse used business-class flights on two of the trips, excluding the trip to Australia and New Zealand.
The airfare and lodging expenses used for the spouse alone on those two trips amounted to a total of approximately 40 million won.
The fact that his spouse accompanied him on former Chairperson Roh's overseas trips had not been included in reports previously disclosed to the outside by the NEC.
Regarding this, former Chairperson Roh explained during the National Assembly's special committee on state administration investigation, "I never requested (accompanying spouse trips) first," while adding, "Everything has been done that way without a doubt, and no objections were raised, so I did not have any particular major doubts about it."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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