Cheongju City Council nixes overseas research trips in wake of public backlash
The administrators, who took office only recently, will return the budget for travel abroad to study urban policies and instead focus on livelihoods.
The logo of the Cheongju City Council
CHEONGJU CITY COUNCIL
Officials at a local council in North Chungcheong have canceled all overseas research trips planned for this year in the wake of public anger that the itineraries were drawn up immediately after members took office.
The Cheongju City Council said Thursday it would scrap all official overseas travel scheduled for this year and return the entire 168 million won ($118,000) budget allocated for them. The decision was not a rejection of the value of trips to conduct policy research abroad but an effort to prioritize public trust, according to the council.
The Cheongju council came under fire after city residents found that the administrators, who took office last month, were planning international travel.
“It is inappropriate for the council to pursue overseas trips at a time when public trust had already been shaken just over a month after its launch,” said the Citizens' Solidarity for Participation and Autonomy of Chungbuk. The civic group called on council members to focus instead on local issues and matters affecting residents’ livelihoods.
The council initially explained that the trips were intended to study successful overseas policies and urban management practices that could be applied in Cheongju. The controversy continued, however, as it drew comparisons with other local councils that had opted to forgo similar trips.
The Cheongju City Council recently gathered opinions from its members and decided to cancel all official overseas trips planned for this year and return the budget.
Instead, it plans to strengthen domestic policy research and training for council members. Members will examine policy practices at other local governments and institutions in Korea and work to improve their policymaking capabilities through meetings with experts, forums and council research groups.
The council also plans to focus more on visiting sites closely connected to residents’ daily lives.
“We are not giving up on learning, but changing the order in which we learn," Cheongju City Council Chair Lim Eun-seong said. “Before looking overseas for answers, we will closely examine administration and finances here in our community and seek answers in the voices of our residents.”
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [kim.hayoon1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
