Rep. Lee Won-taek: "Africa Trip Not for Leisure... Jamboree Hosting Activities"

Lee Won-taek, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, rebutted the controversy over his trip to Africa and other regions during his tenure as the Director of External Cooperation at Jeonbuk Province, which was labeled as a "pleasure trip," stating, "The trip to Africa was not a leisure tour but a legitimate effort to attract the World Scout Jamboree."

Lee Won-taek, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 19th, Lee issued a statement saying, "At that time, the Park Geun-hye administration, the ruling and opposition parties, and the people of Jeonbuk were all working hard to attract the World Scout Jamboree to Saemangeum, and I, too, as the Director of External Cooperation at Jeonbuk Province, promoted South Korea and sought cooperation from African member countries through visits." This was in response to a media report the previous day raising suspicions that Lee's overseas trips related to the Jamboree (a total of eight trips) during his tenure as Director of External Cooperation at Jeonbuk Province (January 2016 to August 2017) were "pleasure trips."

He further explained, "It was not for my personal benefit but for South Korea and Jeonbuk Province," adding, "The African countries visited for the Jamboree bid each held six votes, and since Poland was the competing country, this region was strategically very important."

He also stated, "Most of the trips were scheduled to coincide with the African General Assembly," and "The trips to Africa were conducted as legitimate bid activities, and there was not a single instance of leisure tourism."

He said, "The trip reports have already been disclosed, and some were kept confidential for strategic reasons, such as blocking access to information about Korea's African visit activities from competing countries in the Jamboree bid," expressing regret over the distortion of legitimate trips as pleasure trips. He added, "I understand that there have been at least 13 overseas trips for the Busan Expo bid so far; if so, are those also considered pleasure trips?"

He concluded by warning, "I can guess the intention behind distorting legitimate bid activities as pleasure trips, but I will respond strictly to such distortions in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.