Staying in the Wrong Country? Head of Road Traffic Agency Spends 50 Million Won on Business Trip

[Anchor]

Kim Hee-joong, Chairman of the Korea Road Traffic Authority, went on an overseas business trip this past May to attend an international conference in Germany. However, it was revealed that he spent more than half of the seven-night, nine-day trip in Czechia. Although internal screening prior to the trip raised concerns about issues with the itinerary, he pushed ahead with the trip anyway.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon reports exclusively.

[Reporter]

Kim Hee-joong, Chairman of the Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoROAD)—a quasi-governmental agency under the National Police Agency—traveled abroad this past May to attend the General Assembly of the International Commission for Driver Testing (CIECA) held in Dresden, Germany.

This is the business trip report obtained by SBS.

Out of the seven-night, nine-day schedule, only three nights were spent in Dresden, Germany, while four nights were spent in Prague, Czechia.

The report states that on the day after arriving in Prague, the delegation inspected sites including the Czech transport museum.

However, SBS reporting confirmed that, in reality, they did not visit the transport museum on that day.

The authority explained that the schedule was changed due to fatigue from the long-haul flight and jet lag, as well as the need to review conference materials.


These are the meeting materials that the delegation claimed to have studied "even after altering their schedule."

It consists of just three pages: an introduction to KoROAD and the procedures and structure of South Korea's driver's license testing.

These are the minutes of the internal review committee held before the trip.

It was revealed that one review committee member asked, "I question whether visiting the Czech transport museum is a truly necessary itinerary item," and pointed out that "isn't the substantial official schedule the international conference in Germany?", emphasizing the need to adjust the duration of stay in Czechia.

The authority has been attending this annual international driver testing conference since 2012.

However, over the past decade or so, participants have been director-level officials, such as the head of the driver testing division or the head of the driver's license department.

This year marked the first time the chairman himself attended.

The travel expenses for four people, including Chairman Kim, amounted to 50.38 million won.

[Chae Hyun-il / Member of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee (Democratic Party of Korea): "It has been confirmed that taxpayers' money was wasted through a false business trip report, and that this was a textbook junket trip."]

The authority explained that using Prague Airport in Czechia was more practical in terms of travel routes and airfare, and that the chairman made the trip because there was a need to personally observe the driver's license systems of various countries.

Video by Kim Seung-tae and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Kim Jun-hee | Graphic Design by Hwang Se-yeon
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.