Rho Tae-ak Took Spouses on All Three Overseas Trips; NEC Also Covered Spouses' Expenses

[Financial News] It has been confirmed that former Chairperson of the National Election Commission Rho Tae-ak was accompanied by his spouse on all three overseas trips he took while in office. During those trips, the NEC paid for the spouse's airfare and lodging, but the publicly released documents did not include any mention of the couple traveling together.
According to an overseas travel plan submitted by the NEC to Rep. Yang Bu-nam of The Democratic Party of Korea on the 17th, Rho visited Germany and Estonia with his spouse for a nine-day, seven-night trip in November 2024.
The expenses for that trip, including airfare, rail fares, living expenses, and allowances, came to about 71.94 million won, all of which was paid from the NEC budget.
Rho also traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden, for a 10-day, eight-night trip in November last year, and that trip was also reportedly taken with his spouse. According to materials titled "Overseas Travel Plan for the Development of the Election System and Promotion of International Networks," which the NEC submitted to Rep. Yang Bu-nam, about 90.53 million won in travel costs was paid from the NEC budget.
However, the fact that Rho was accompanied by his spouse on all three overseas trips was not included in the external documents the NEC later released. In response, the NEC explained, "Because the position and role of the head of a constitutional institution require appropriate courtesy, we included a spouse budget from the planning stage."
bng@fnnews.com Kim Hee-sun Reporter