President Lee Jae-myung's overseas travel costs are expected to nearly double next year, with the Foreign Ministry attributing the increase to severe inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Park Yoon-joo, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated during a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee meeting on November 12 that "the issue of adjusting travel costs has persisted for over a decade."
Earlier, ruling party lawmaker Ko Dong-jin pointed out that President Lee's diplomatic achievements have been lacking, noting that the budget for his 11 overseas trips this year was 23.782 billion won. He highlighted that next year, the number of trips is set to increase by two, with the average cost per trip rising to double the current amount. This year, the average cost per trip was 2.162 billion won, while next year it is projected to be 4.02 billion won, totaling 52.03 billion won.
Additionally, costs for diplomatic engagements involving the president and prime minister are reported to rise from 28.993 billion won this year to 65.328 billion won next year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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