The People Power Party said the 205.97 million won spent when People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok and others visited the United States for 8 nights and 10 days in April was the "minimum budget." It said the amount was not large considering previous party leader trips to the U.S. and high oil prices.
Park Sung-hoon, chief spokesperson of the People Power Party, met reporters after the supreme council meeting on the 3rd and said, "Considering high oil prices and inflation due to the war between the United States and Iran, the budget for (Leader Jang's) business trip to the U.S. is the minimum compared with party leaders' previous U.S. trip budgets."
He added, "When former leader Kim Gi-hyeon visited the U.S., it was 5 nights and 7 days at 218 million won, and under former leader Kim Moo-sung it is estimated at 239 million won," and said, "For National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik's most recent trip to Japan, a budget of 317 million won was executed for 2 nights and 3 days."
In the party accounting report the People Power Party submitted to the National Election Commission, 203.8 million won was listed as the "expenses for the delegation's visit to the United States." On that U.S. itinerary, Leader Jang was accompanied by Supreme Council member Kim Min-su and lawmakers Cho Jung-hoon, Kim Dae-sik, and Kim Jang-kyom.
Leader Jang's U.S. schedule was originally planned for Apr. 14–17, but the return was three days later, on Apr. 20. As a result, there were additional expenses of 40.28 million won, of which 38.11 million won was returned. With the delayed return, there was about 2.17 million won in additional expenditure.
During the U.S. visit, Leader Jang met with a National Security Council (NSC) official at the White House, the chief of staff to the undersecretary for public diplomacy at the State Department, and officials at U.S. think tanks. He also sought meetings with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but they did not materialize.