Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly to Tighten Rules on Overseas Business Trips... Mandatory One-Institution Visit Per Day Proposed

The Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly has launched a sweeping institutional reform in response to the recent controversy over overseas business trips perceived as junkets.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly's "Overseas Business Trip Innovation Task Force" on June 9 announced a set of institutional reform measures aimed at fundamentally blocking overseas trips for non-official purposes, including significantly strengthening the review criteria for such trips.

The main points of the reform measures include: ▲ enhancing the transparency of the travel agency selection process ▲ strictly reviewing the schedules of business trips, such as visits to institutions ▲ fully adopting the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's standard guidelines for overseas business trips.

First, to enhance transparency in overseas business trips, the selection of travel agencies must go through a public bidding process. From now on, all overseas business trips by assembly members must be publicly announced on the assembly's website, and the optimal agency must be selected through an open bidding process.

Strict standards will also apply to the overall business trip plan, including the principle of visiting only one official institution per day. The appropriateness of the selected institutions and the relevance to official duties will be more rigorously reviewed. In particular, simple site inspections or tourism-oriented schedules will not be recognized as valid purposes for business trips.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government and Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly

In addition, the assembly plans to soon propose an amendment to the "Ordinance on Overseas Business Trips by Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Members," which will fully adopt the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's standard guidelines for overseas business trips and legally formalize the strengthened review procedures.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly will strictly apply these standards to all future overseas business trips and will minimize such trips until the institutional reforms have a tangible effect.

Lim Chaeho, head of the Innovation Task Force (Secretary General of the Assembly), said, "This reform plan is the beginning of institutional change to bring about real improvements that meet the expectations of Gyeonggi residents," adding, "We will do our utmost to establish a transparent and responsible business trip system and restore the trust of the residents."