EXCLUSIVE: NEC Thoroughly Hid Spouse Accompanying Former Chief on Every Overseas Trip

[Anchor]

We continue with an exclusive report regarding the National Election Commission (NEC). It has been revealed that former NEC Chairperson Noh Tae-ak, who resigned over the ballot paper shortage incident, was accompanied by his spouse on all three of his overseas business trips during his tenure. The spouse's travel expenses, including airfare and lodging, were also covered by public funds. However, the NEC concealed this fact in its publicly released reports.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon reports exclusively.

[Reporter]

This is a report published on the NEC website, stating that in November last year—seven months before the June 3 local elections—then-NEC Chairperson Noh Tae-ak and three staff members, a total of four people, went on an eight-night, ten-day overseas trip to Denmark and Sweden.

The purpose of the trip was to discuss the development of electoral systems.

However, in photos of a visit to the South Korean Embassy in Denmark and a dinner at the ambassador's residence, a woman is pictured next to then-Chairperson Noh.

Who is she?

This is a confidential travel plan obtained by SBS.

In the list of travelers, the remarks column next to then-Chairperson Noh's name reads "accompanied by spouse."

While the report publicly released by the NEC stated there were four travelers, it has been confirmed that there were actually five, including then-Chairperson Noh's wife.

We also checked the details of the travel budget, which cost 90.53 million won of public funds.

Business class airfare was billed for two people, and lodging expenses were settled for five people instead of four.

What about the overseas trip in November 2024, when former Chairperson Noh visited Germany and Estonia?

The trip cost 71.9 million won, and it was also "accompanied by spouse."

The NEC did not disclose this fact in the public travel report for this trip either.

Former Chairperson Noh, who was also a Supreme Court Justice, went on three overseas trips during his four-year tenure as NEC chief, and all of them were confirmed to have been accompanied by his spouse.

[Yang Bu-nam / Democratic Party Representative: Neglecting their primary duty of election management while taking spouse-accompanied trips under the pretext of 'exchanges with overseas institutions' is a clear junket-style privilege and a waste of taxpayers' money.]

The report on the Denmark-Sweden trip shows that the local officials met by former Chairperson Noh were mostly working-level staff, such as a director at Copenhagen City Hall and a team leader at the Swedish Election Authority.

Critics point out that this does not match the status of the country's fifth-highest state official.

The schedule consisted of only one or two events a day, and on one day, the only activity was laying a wreath at a Korean War veterans' memorial.

Regarding the spouse-accompanied trips, the NEC stated, "It was necessary to consider the protocol corresponding to the status and role of the head of a constitutional institution, so a budget for the spouse was allocated from the planning stage." It added, "While we followed custom, we will operate in line with public expectations in the future."

The commission explained that the reason it did not include this in the public reports was because the spouse is not a public official.

SBS attempted to contact former Chairperson Noh for comment, but was unable to reach him.

Reported by Go Jeong-hyeon | Video by Kim Han-gyeol | Video Editing by Shin Se-eun | Graphics by Choi Jin-hoe

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[Anchor]

Let's discuss this in more detail with reporter Go Jeong-hyeon, who covered this story.

Q. Why was the spouse's accompaniment hidden?

[Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon: Yes, let me explain this first. This is the official trip report that anyone can view. As you can see, the list of travelers states that four people, including former Chairperson Noh Tae-ak and NEC staff, went on the trip. On the other hand, this is a confidential document—the travel plan—where 'accompanied by spouse' is written next to Noh's name. When we asked the NEC why they hid this fact, they excused it by saying that because the spouse is not an active public official, it was deemed inappropriate to include her in public documents. It sounded as though they went ahead with it anyway, even while knowing the public would view it as inappropriate.]

Q. Did she skip the actual 'election-related schedule'?

[Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon: From the first lady to even spouses of ordinary public officials, they can accompany officials on overseas trips if there is a clear official purpose. Covering the expenses with the state budget is also entirely possible. However, according to the travel records, former Chairperson Noh's wife did not attend any schedules related to the election system. Furthermore, the NEC admitted that no overseas institution had invited Noh's wife. This is why criticism is mounting that the trip was merely a junket.]

Q. What about trips by other staff members?

[Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon: A total of 461 NEC employees have gone on 107 overseas trips from 2022 to this year, costing 2.4 billion won of the state budget. There were also cases where resort destinations like the Maldives and Kota Kinabalu were included as trip locations under the pretext of studying election systems, drawing growing criticism that they went on vacations using taxpayers' money. Of course, necessary overseas trips should be taken. However, many point out that the lack of proper external oversight on the NEC is what led to the recent ballot paper shortage. Therefore, many say that the state of their overseas trips alone clearly shows the lax management of the NEC.]
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.