A view of Paris, France. This photo is unrelated to the article. [123RF]
A view of Paris, France. This photo is unrelated to the article. [123RF]

Members of the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly are facing criticism over wasteful spending after it emerged that they attended a lavish dinner in France costing 1.8 million won ($1,330) per person — with the entire bill covered by local government funds.

According to NHK, five prefectural assembly members who visited Paris in November last year attended a dinner costing 200,000 yen ($1,290) per person, Yonhap reported Wednesday.

The total meal bill of 1 million yen was drawn entirely from the prefectural budget — public funds.

The delegation comprised 25 people including Fukuoka Governor Hattori Seitaro, civil servants and assembly members, and spent five days in Paris under the stated purpose of promoting local specialty products. Total expenses for the trip came to 50.31 million yen.

Despite the official justification of promoting regional products, the trip has drawn sharp criticism as a thinly veiled overseas junket. When the controversy broke, some of the assembly members who attended the dinner told reporters they had not known the cost in advance.

Governor Hattori, who attended the dinner as an invited guest and paid nothing, said it was "an effective event where more than 500 stakeholders gathered and built networks." As public backlash mounted, he said he would have the appropriateness of the expenses verified by a third-party committee.

Costly overseas trips have drawn scrutiny before

Kyodo News and other outlets reported in July that Governor Hattori had already been under fire over allegations that his frequent overseas trips amounted to expensive junkets at public expense.

At a news conference, Hattori said he would establish a third-party committee of outside experts to objectively assess the purpose, cost-effectiveness and appropriateness of his overseas travel to date.

According to documents released by Fukuoka Prefecture, Hattori visited 14 countries and regions on 17 trips over roughly three and a half years from November 2022 through last May, at a total cost of 337.32 million yen. A trip to Hawaii in April 2023 alone cost 49.29 million yen.

Hattori said he believed his overseas activities had produced tangible results, but acknowledged that continuing to pursue foreign trips before the third-party committee issued its objective assessment "would be difficult for the people of the prefecture to accept." He indicated he would refrain from overseas travel for one year.

Beyond reviewing the overseas trips, the third-party committee also plans to investigate allegations that a gathering of senior prefectural officials illegally funneled political funds to the speaker of the prefectural assembly and others.


yul@heraldcorp.com