Lawmakers rush to take overseas trips using taxpayer money

Four lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties, including Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-bin, submitted their plan for an overseas trip to France and the Netherlands for seven days and eight nights from May 13 to 20, claiming that they would discuss cooperation plans on ‘eco-friendly bicycle cities.’ However, it was rejected by the National Assembly Secretariat as “it is not in line with the purpose.” Rep. Lee was not nominated for this year’s general election, and his term in the National Assembly will end on May 29.

Sul Hoon of the New Future Party, Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Lee Hun-seung of the People Power Party will visit Tanzania for about five days starting Thursday. Of the three, Rep. Lee is the only one who will serve in the 22nd National Assembly. The trip was initially scheduled to be accompanied by Rep. Yang Jeong-sook of the New Reform Party, who also lost this year’s general election but was removed from the final list after the National Assembly Secretariat advised her to “refrain” from traveling as she traveled overseas too frequently.

Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties are reportedly rushing to apply for 'last-minute taxpayer-funded trips' ahead of the end of the 21st National Assembly's term. As of the end of last month, seven standing committees and lawmakers' meetings had submitted travel requests for May, as reported by The Dong-A Ilbo on Tuesday. Four of these requests were rejected for not meeting their intended purposes, such as a trip for eco-friendly bicycle city cooperation. At the same time, three were approved on the condition that excessively long itineraries be shortened or that lawmakers who travel abroad too often, such as Yang, be removed from the list. The end date for their travels was set three days before the end of their term, on March 26th. Notably, many lawmakers who lost or were not nominated in the April 10 general elections were also on the travel list. These overseas trips for lawmakers cost taxpayers around 20 million won per person. Experts have criticized the end-of-term trips taken by defeated lawmakers, stating that “they are unlikely to result in policies in the 22nd National Assembly and are instead perceived as leisure time for them.”


유채연기자 ycy@donga.com