"Golf Trips in Government Cars"... Improper Budget Use Uncovered at Liaison Offices

Findings from Survey of 110 Liaison Offices
Improper Expenditure of 270 Million Won at 68 Local Governments

It has been uncovered that liaison offices, operated by local governments to coordinate with the National Assembly and central administrative agencies, have been executing their budgets in an extravagant manner, including the improper receipt of overtime pay and other allowances.

Residents are enjoying park golf at a park golf course in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. This is unrelated to the article content. Photo by Yonhap News.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on September 29, 2026, that a review of budget execution for the year 2025 at 110 local governments operating liaison offices revealed cases of improper execution or receipt of funds totaling approximately 273.1 million won by 125 individuals in 68 local governments. The inspection targeted six major items: overtime allowances, travel expenses, government vehicles, housing subsidies, office management expenses, and work-related expense accounts. It was found that liaison officers, who typically work alone in separate office spaces and frequently engage in external activities, are particularly vulnerable to weak oversight and management of their work performance.

The largest issue uncovered was the improper receipt of overtime pay amounting to approximately 122.95 million won. Liaison officers and others at 24 local governments were found to have claimed allowances by returning to their offices late at night after having dinner or drinking alcohol, then recording their departure time to gain extra overtime pay. At four local governments, some exploited the absence of separate offices by working from their official residences, falsifying manual logs to the monthly upper limit of 57 hours and collecting a total of 30.47 million won in this manner.

There were also cases of improper claims for work-related allowances or travel expenses. In one case, a liaison officer regularly traveled to Daejeon during working hours every Friday to dine with acquaintances, using work-related funds for these personal meals. Another liaison officer circumvented approval procedures required for payments exceeding 500,000 won by splitting payments at the same restaurant or using late-night transactions after 11 pm. Additionally, one officer claimed a total of 7.24 million won in travel expenses over one year, collecting 600,000 won per month without submitting any supporting documents.

Abuse and unauthorized use of government vehicles were also detected. One liaison officer was found to have used an official vehicle without authorization to leave his place of work in Seoul during working hours and visit golf courses 12 times in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, and Ganghwa-gun, Incheon. Another liaison officer at a different local government was discovered to have consistently used an official vehicle for commuting from home on weekends as if it were a personal car.

Cases of improper provision of housing subsidies and related expenses were also identified. In three local governments, accommodation rental fees totaling 42 million won were paid to fixed-term liaison officers who were already residing in the Seoul metropolitan area at the time of recruitment, without any explicit legal basis. In six local governments, expenses totaling 9.11 million won for maintenance and consumable items of official residences, which should have been covered personally, were also paid for out of the budget.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission plans to notify the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the relevant local governments of the results, demanding the recovery of improperly used funds and disciplinary actions against those involved. Jung Ilyeon, chairperson of the Commission, stated, "The practice of wasting taxpayers’ money by exploiting loopholes in remote work, deviating from the original purpose of cooperation with the National Assembly and central ministries, must be eradicated," adding, "We will improve the management system to ensure responsibility and transparency."

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