The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) has urged legal and administrative measures regarding fraudulent hiring practices by the National Election Commission (NEC). ACRC’s Director of Anti-Corruption, Min Seong-shim, emphasized during a briefing on the 3rd that in a time of severe youth unemployment, there is a growing public expectation for fair recruitment in the public sector. She expressed hope that the NEC, which should be the most fair and transparent electoral management body, would take actions that meet public expectations. The ACRC stated that allowing children who were hired through parental misconduct to continue working does not align with public standards of fairness and is contrary to the principles of equity. Therefore, the ACRC called for a prompt investigation into whether officials’ children fraudulently hired at the NEC were involved in recruitment corruption, and demanded appropriate legal and administrative accountability.
In September 2023, the ACRC conducted an investigation into hiring practices at the NEC, prosecuting 28 related individuals, including HR officials, for 10 cases of fraudulent hiring, and requesting investigations into 312 cases. Some of these were dismissed, but the rest are under investigation. In February, the Board of Audit and Inspection also released a report on 11 cases of preferential hiring for children of high-ranking NEC officials. The board uncovered malpractices such as family and relative hiring solicitations, interview score manipulations, and falsification or concealment of HR documentation across seven regional election commissions, including the Seoul NEC. The board demanded severe disciplinary actions or reported the issues for personnel considerations against a total of 32 individuals, including former secretaries-general, deputy secretaries, and HR officials.