[Exclusive] Seoul City to Tighten Overseas Business Trip Rules for Public Officials

Strengthening the Review and Approval Process for Official Overseas Business Trips
Enhancing Linked Departmental Trips... Integration by Schedule and Destination
Establishing Annual Business Trip Plans... Pre-coordination to Prevent Duplicate Trips<

Seoul City will tighten the review process for overseas business trips taken by public officials. The city will establish annual business trip plans and encourage linked trips with related departments to reduce duplicate trips. The requirements for post-trip reports will also become more stringent. From now on, reports must be written according to a prescribed performance table and will be subject to plagiarism checks.

According to Seoul City on January 27, the city will implement these measures starting this year to enhance the transparency of the review and approval process for overseas business trips by public officials.

Seoul City will establish annual business trip plans for public officials and strengthen the review of overseas business trips by encouraging linked trips with related departments to reduce duplicate trips. The photo shows Incheon International Airport. Photo by The Asia Business Daily

Until now, overseas business trips by local government officials have often sparked controversy for being perceived as unnecessary or for personal leisure. In some cases, superficial preliminary reviews and poor-quality trip reports have been discovered, leading to separate government audits. In local councils, there have even been discussions about reclaiming expenses if substandard trip reports are submitted.

The strengthened management plan for overseas business trips, which Seoul City will implement starting this year, focuses on minimizing unnecessary trips and improving the efficiency of scheduled trips to enhance administrative and financial management.

First, the city will introduce linked trips between departments. For example, if the Disaster Management Office plans an overseas trip to benchmark disaster prevention infrastructure and the Housing Department plans a trip to benchmark construction infrastructure, these trips can be consolidated by adjusting the region or schedule. To facilitate this, “contribution to interdepartmental collaboration” will be added as a criterion in the review of overseas business trips. According to the city, this measure aims to improve trip efficiency and strengthen interdepartmental collaboration systems across the administration.

An “annual business trip plan” will also be established. The city believes that securing and managing annual business trip plans at the beginning of the year will allow it to filter out duplicate trips in advance. Starting this year, Seoul City will require each office, bureau, and agency to submit their annual business trip plans.

New regulations have also been introduced for managing private sector experts who accompany public officials on business trips. The roles and activities of accompanying private experts must be reported separately in accordance with city regulations. All supporting documents, including prior consultation documents and policy statements related to the accompaniment of private experts, must be included.

The review of post-trip reports will also be strengthened. To ensure performance-based management of business trips, officials will be required to complete a performance table created by the city. Detailed categories such as official achievements, meeting outcomes, event results, and educational outcomes will be added. Through each category, the city will manage not only the results of business agreements or joint projects but also outcomes such as network building and the number of media exposures.

Additionally, existing management measures-such as minimizing the size of delegations and strictly managing expense disbursement-will be further refined. Seoul City is already working to minimize delegation sizes, limit the number of trips for certain positions, and thoroughly operate the overseas business trip review committee.

The strengthened management plan for overseas business trips by public officials in Seoul City may spread to Seoul’s autonomous districts and other local governments as well. An official from one district stated, “Although overseas business trips by public officials are currently reviewed by the local council, strengthening internal management will provide a foundation for building trust with the council and citizens. We will consider introducing regulations tailored to the circumstances of each local government.”