Park Jin-young Faced Warning Over Personal Activities During U.S. Official Trip

[Financial News] It has been reported that Park Jin-young, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, was criticized by the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea for carrying out personal activities during an official trip to the United States last year.
Yonhap News Agency reported on the 2nd that the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee issued a warning to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) during a plenary meeting on the 1st. The committee asked the ministry to "clearly distinguish official schedules from personal activities or schedules related to a private company when civilian committee members take official overseas business trips."
Park Jin-young traveled to New York and Los Angeles from November 13 to 23 last year. His official schedule included meetings related to PHANOMENON, a major K-pop-focused festival.
The official portion of the trip, for which travel expenses were provided, lasted five nights and six days, from November 13 to 18. After the official schedule ended, Park Jin-young reportedly carried out personal activities locally.
The Popular Culture Exchange Committee Support Team issued an explanatory statement, saying that all matters related to the disbursement of travel expenses and schedule adjustments for the trip had been handled lawfully in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. It explained that Park Jin-young personally covered all costs for the latter part of the trip, which consisted of personal activities, including the return flight.
The support team also added that, because Park Jin-young holds a non-full-time position, changes to his personal schedule and postponement of his return after the official trip ended were not subject to separate prior approval under the regulations.
The support team said it understood that the warning had been issued in consideration of the high level of public interest in the committee's activities and their economic impact, despite there being no violation of the law. It added that it would manage all administrative affairs and budget execution, including official overseas business trips, more strictly and transparently going forward.
[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter