[Anchor]

Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties have criticized former National Election Commission (NEC) Chairperson Noh Tae-ak for taking overseas trips with his spouse using taxpayer money. Former Chairperson Noh apologized, acknowledging that his actions did not meet public expectations.

Reporter Kim Soo-young has the story.

[Reporter]

Former NEC Chairperson Noh Tae-ak appeared before the National Assembly's Special Committee on State Administration Investigation.

Following an SBS report that he had taken three overseas trips with his wife using government funds—and that the NEC had concealed the fact that his spouse accompanied him—lawmakers from both sides of the aisle united in their criticism of the former chairperson.

[Kim Nam-hee / Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker: You didn't hesitate to spend 12 million won on round-trip airfare for your spouse to accompany you on these trips. Is the cost of ballot papers really a budget that needs to be cut?]

[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party lawmaker: Isn't the point of public outrage the fact that Chairperson Noh Tae-ak took his spouse along to overseas destinations and essentially toured vacation spots?]

In particular, lawmakers pointed out that his trips to Germany and Estonia were also inappropriate in terms of timing, as they took place around the time the Board of Audit and Inspection was investigating allegations of preferential hiring of children of NEC officials in 2024.

Former Chairperson Noh bowed his head, stating that he believed the trips were permissible because the budget for spouse-accompanied travel had already been allocated as part of the protocol for high-ranking officials. He admitted that his actions did not align with public sentiment.

[Noh Tae-ak / Former National Election Commission Chairperson: From today's perspective, I feel deeply sorry that it appeared that way to the public. I will explore ways to return the (overseas travel) expenses.]

Allegations of leisure-focused overseas trips by NEC staff were also brought to the table.

This is because many of the overseas destinations visited by NEC employees from 2022 to June of this year were famous vacation spots or tourist destinations, such as the Maldives, Kota Kinabalu, and Florence.

[Yang Bu-nam / Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker: Have you ever seen research conducted through overseas trips like this? Have you ever seen a country where people couldn't vote because they ran out of ballot papers?]

The People Power Party has filed a complaint against former Chairperson Noh and other NEC officials on charges of professional embezzlement.

(Reported by Shin Dong-hwan | Video edited by Jang Hyun-ki)