Korean civil servants were found to have visited Finland last year under the pretext of a business trip, but in fact spent most of their time traveling in the region, Korea's state auditor said Tuesday.

The civil servants from the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs traveled to Helsinki in May 2011 with two researchers from the state-funded Korea Institute of Construction Technology to attend a World Tunnel Congress held in the Finnish capital, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said in a report revealing the operations of state-funded research bodies.

However, the group spent one day at the conference and the remaining seven days of the trip traveling through nearby countries such as Sweden and Estonia, spending more than 12.2 million won ($10,530) along the way, the BAI said. The officials even submitted a false report after returning from the supposed business trip.

The BAI said it also determined a total of 10 government-funded research institutes claimed 2.03 billion won more than what they needed to conduct 969 separate state projects between 2008 and 2010. (Yonhap)