Seoul's citizen audit ombudsman publishes findings on overseas trip by former Seongdong-gu district mayor

Panel confirms accompanying staff member's gender was recorded incorrectly in official documents

Hiring supervisor worked in same department as successful candidate, constituting grounds for recusal

Seven corrective measures issued, including institutional warning, corrective order and four recommendations

Matters under active investigation excluded from audit scope

Jeong Won-o, former Seongdong-gu district mayor, who ran as the Democratic Party of Korea's Seoul mayoral candidate in the June 3 local elections. [Yonhap]
Jeong Won-o, former Seongdong-gu district mayor, who ran as the Democratic Party of Korea's Seoul mayoral candidate in the June 3 local elections. [Yonhap]

Seoul's Citizen Audit Ombudsman Committee has concluded that the hiring process for a term-limited civil servant who accompanied former Seongdong-gu District Mayor Jeong Won-o on an official overseas trip to Mexico and the United States in 2023 lacked fairness and objective verification. The panel also found that Seongdong-gu had failed to follow relevant regulations and procedures across multiple areas — including the review and post-trip management of the overseas travel, and the execution and settlement of travel expenses — and issued an institutional warning to the district. Matters currently under investigation by law enforcement agencies were excluded from the audit's scope, it said.

The ombudsman committee published the findings of the residents' audit request regarding Jeong's official overseas trip on its website Tuesday.

The audit was initiated after 210 Seongdong-gu residents filed a request raising allegations about the 2023 official overseas trip to Mexico and the United States, including questions about the preparation and management of trip review documents, the execution of travel expense budgets, and the hiring process for the staff member who accompanied Jeong. The committee said the audit was conducted without interfering with the ongoing investigation.

The audit covered four areas: alleged errors in the gender of the accompanying staff member recorded in the overseas trip review documents, and suspicions that committee members' signatures were added after the fact; the appropriateness of the travel itinerary and schedule, and whether travel expenses were properly executed; allegations of preferential treatment in the hiring of the accompanying staff member and whether the hiring process was conducted appropriately; and whether post-trip administrative duties — including the registration of the return report — were properly handled.

On the appropriateness of administrative procedures related to the overseas trip review, the committee confirmed that the gender of the accompanying staff member had been recorded incorrectly in the review documents. It also found that the return report, which must be registered in the overseas travel and training information system within 30 days of returning under applicable regulations, had still not been filed. The committee said it issued a caution to Seongdong-gu directing it to accurately verify basic personal information when preparing overseas trip review documents, and a corrective order requiring the unregistered return report to be entered into the system immediately.

Regarding the execution of the travel budget, the committee found that although official airline mileage was available at the time, it was not listed on the airfare payment request form and the required procedures for prioritizing and verifying its use were not followed.

The committee also audited whether hiring regulations were properly applied in the recruitment of the term-limited civil servant who accompanied Jeong on the trip. It found that the section chief overseeing the hiring process had worked in the same department as the successful candidate — a circumstance that constituted grounds for recusal under the selection examination operating plan — yet failed to file a recusal request across four separate rounds of the hiring process.

"This reflects insufficient internal controls and verification procedures for ensuring the fairness and objectivity of the hiring process," the committee said. It recommended that Seongdong-gu strictly comply with recusal and avoidance procedures for examination committee members when hiring term-limited civil servants, and establish a process for documenting and managing the verification of submitted materials such as career certificates.

As a comprehensive corrective measure, the committee issued an institutional warning to Seongdong-gu over its overall negligence in handling administrative duties related to overseas official travel and the hiring of term-limited civil servants, and said the district must improve its management systems to prevent similar cases from recurring.

In total, the committee issued seven corrective measures to Seongdong-gu: one institutional warning, one corrective order, four recommendations and one caution.

Meanwhile, at the national audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government held at Seoul City Hall on Thursday, lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea claimed the ombudsman committee was conducting a targeted audit aimed at Jeong, who had been Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's rival in the June 3 local elections. Oh rebuffed the claim, saying the Citizen Audit Ombudsman Committee is "an independent deliberative administrative body that conducts audits in response to requests from citizens," adding that "the Seoul mayor does not have the authority to direct audits on specific matters."

Jeong made an official overseas trip to Cancun, Mexico, and the United States in March 2023 over a 12-day, 10-night itinerary. In response, 210 residents filed an audit request, saying they suspected the trip review and approval process contained false information and asking whether all procedures related to the trip had been properly carried out.


ikson@heraldcorp.com