[6.3 Election] "Kim Daejung Must Step Down Over 'Inflated Airfare' Allegations"

"11 Million Won Airfare for Australia Trip Deemed Excessive"

Four preliminary candidates running for Superintendent of Education in the Jeonnam·Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City have called for candidate Kim Daejung to immediately step down and cooperate with an investigation in response to recent media reports about allegations of "inflated airfare."

On the 27th, four preliminary candidates running for the Jeonnam and Gwangju Special City Superintendent of Education election held a press conference regarding the allegations of 'inflated airfare' involving preliminary candidate Kim Daejung, which were recently reported in the media. Provided by the Lee Jungseon campaign team

On the 27th, four preliminary candidates for Superintendent—Kang Sukyoung, Ko Dugap, Kim Haeryong, and Lee Jungseon—held a joint press conference at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education briefing room, stating, "We have come forward with a heavy heart regarding the allegations of 'inflated prices for overseas business trip airfare and misappropriation of public funds' during Kim Daejung's previous term as Jeonnam Superintendent of Education."

They argued, "It is a serious crime for the leader of education to treat taxpayer funds as personal money, and furthermore, to allegedly obtain and use illicit gains in a foreign country. Such acts fundamentally shake the pride of Jeonnam education," and questioned, "Why was the budget set without regard to the official airfare rate for business travel, and where did the difference go?"

They further claimed, "In particular, the airfare of 11 million won allotted for the Australia trip was an extraordinarily high amount, far exceeding the standard business class fare or market airfare at the time," adding, "We have found evidence of a significant discrepancy between the actual payment and the amount recorded in the books."

They asserted, "There are strong suspicions that the inflated airfare difference was used locally for unidentified purposes," and emphasized, "If it was spent without documentation for private activities outside of official schedules, and if Kim Daejung and his associates squandered foreign currency, this clearly constitutes embezzlement and breach of trust with public funds."

The four candidates especially criticized, "Kim Daejung's camp has consistently made excuses such as 'a simple administrative error' or 'a travel agency issue.' However, the actual airline ticket issuance records and bank statements do not lie. Persistently making excuses is an insult to the residents of the city and province."

The four candidates demanded that Kim Daejung's camp immediately disclose all payment records for airline tickets, the actual boarding passes from the Australia trip, and all supporting documents for local expenditures. They also urged investigative authorities to promptly conduct a search and seizure and thoroughly investigate both Kim Daejung and the Jeonnam Office of Education.

They further insisted that, now that his moral deficits have been revealed, Kim Daejung is unfit to be responsible for Jeonnam·Gwangju education, and called for him to immediately step down as a candidate and face legal consequences.

The four candidates stated, "If a superintendent tainted with corruption allegations is elected, it will be disastrous for Jeonnam·Gwangju education. The four of us pledge before the residents that, beyond political affiliations, we will continue to fight together to uphold the integrity of Jeonnam·Gwangju education."

Meanwhile, since taking office as Superintendent in 2022, candidate Kim Daejung reportedly took a total of 10 overseas business trips through last year, primarily using business class, with total airfare amounting to 61 million won. Of these, airfare was found to have been inflated in 7 cases, and 7.34 million won was recovered.

In particular, for a business trip to Australia in October 2022, he received 11.33 million won for airfare. Even with a business class ticket, the maximum airfare at the time was around 9.23 million won, so 2.1 million won was recovered by the Office of Education.

In contrast, Lee Jungseon, the Superintendent of Gwangju, spent 2.706 million won on a round-trip economy class ticket for the same Australia trip in August 2023—about a quarter of the amount spent by Kim Daejung.

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