The audit has revealed that former and current employees of the Election Commission were involved in corruption, such as soliciting job placements for family members or manipulating interview scores. On the 27th, the Board of Audit and Inspection released a report on the personnel management practices of seven regional election commissions, highlighting issues like nepotism, score manipulation, and tampering or concealing personnel-related documents. Based on these findings, 32 individuals connected to the hiring irregularities were reported for disciplinary action.
According to the audit, it was common for officials from high-ranking to mid-level positions within the Election Commission to solicit the hiring of their family members. Personnel and hiring managers were found to use various illegal and unethical methods. The preferential hiring often occurred during the career competition recruitment process, which hires national public officials as regional public officials. An exhaustive review of 291 recruitments since 2013 uncovered a total of 878 violations across all instances.
Notably, senior and mid-level officials directly contacted personnel managers to request job placements. For instance, former Secretary-General Kim of the Central Election Commission, at the ministerial level, was found to have unlawfully exerted influence to have his son hired as an eighth-grade official at the Incheon Ganghwa County Election Commission in 2019. Similarly, former Deputy Secretary Song of the same commission, at the vice-ministerial level, requested in 2018 that his daughter, who was working at Boryeong City Hall in South Chungcheong Province, be recommended for a career position at the Danyang County Election Commission in North Chungcheong Province.
Personnel officers in the Election Commission orchestrated hiring favors by pre-determining positions for children of commission members without public notice or by assembling examination committees with insiders who had personal connections. These manipulative practices ensured that the family members of former Secretary-General Kim and former Deputy Secretary Song, as well as those of other high-ranking officials, secured positions. Meanwhile, general applicants faced unfair disadvantages, resulting in unintended victims.
The audit also confirmed attempts by those involved in the hiring scandals to destroy evidence or coerce false statements during the investigation process. The Board of Audit and Inspection identified a total of 37 instances requiring legal or procedural changes across employment (22 cases), organizational (2 cases), and service management (13 cases) fields through this audit.
Previously, in late April last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection requested the prosecution to investigate allegations of fraudulent hiring involving 27 former and current employees of the Election Commission, with the investigation currently underway.