[Anchor]
Kim Hee-joong, head of the Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoROAD), traveled to Germany this past May to attend an international conference. However, it has been revealed that he spent half of the nine-day, seven-night trip staying in the Czech Republic. Despite concerns raised during an internal review prior to the trip regarding the itinerary, the trip went ahead as planned.
Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has this exclusive report.
[Reporter]
Kim Hee-joong, president of KoROAD, a quasi-governmental agency under the National Police Agency, went on an overseas business trip in May to attend the general assembly of the International Commission for Driver Testing (CIECA) held in Dresden, Germany.
This is the official trip report obtained by SBS.
Out of the nine-day, seven-night schedule, only three nights were spent in Dresden, Germany, while four nights were spent in Prague, Czech Republic.
According to the report, on the day after arriving in Prague, the delegation inspected sites including the Public Transport Museum in Prague.
However, SBS reporting confirmed that they did not actually visit the transport museum on that day.
KoROAD explained that they changed the schedule due to fatigue from the long-haul flight and jet lag, and to familiarize themselves with meeting materials.
These are the meeting materials that the delegation claimed to have studied "even while changing their schedule."
They consist of just three pages in total: an introduction to KoROAD and an overview of South Korea's driver's license testing procedures and structure.
Minutes from the internal review committee held ahead of the trip show concerns were raised beforehand.
One committee member noted, "I question whether visiting the Czech transport museum is a necessary schedule item," and pointed out the need to adjust the stay in the Czech Republic, asking, "Isn't the German international conference the actual official business?"
KoROAD has been attending this annual international driver testing conference since 2012.
However, over the past decade or so, attendees have typically been department heads of driver testing or heads of the driver licensing division.
This year was the first time the agency's head attended in person.
The trip for the four-person delegation, including Kim, cost 50.38 million won.
[Chae Hyun-il / Member of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee (Democratic Party of Korea): "Taxpayers' money was wasted on a false business trip report, and this was confirmed to be a typical junket trip."]
KoROAD explained that using Prague Airport in the Czech Republic was more efficient in terms of travel routes and airfare, and that the head made the trip this time because of the need to personally examine driver's license systems in different countries.
(Video by Kim Seung-tae and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Kim Jun-hee | Graphics by Hwang Se-yeon)
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