Song Bong-seop, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Election Commission (61), who requested the hiring of his daughter at the Election Commission, has been brought to trial.
Election Commission employees involved in the fraudulent hiring of Song’s daughter and an acquaintance’s child at the Election Commission were also brought to trial.
On the morning of the 7th, Song Bong-seop, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Election Commission, appeared at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, to attend the warrant hearing and was heading to the courtroom.
On the 29th, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Jong-hyun) indicted Song without detention on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of official duties by deception.
Former management section chief Han (62, former Secretary-General of the Chungbuk Election Commission) and former management officer Park (55, current secretary of a regional Election Commission) who were in charge of personnel affairs at the Chungbuk Election Commission were also brought to trial on the same charges.
The management section was the department overseeing election management and personnel affairs such as hiring at city and provincial Election Commissions. Currently, due to organizational restructuring, election management is handled by the Election Division, and personnel affairs are handled by the General Affairs Division.
According to the prosecution, Song is accused of having his daughter Song, who was working at Boryeong City Hall in Chungnam in January 2018 while he was serving as a senior official at the Central Election Commission (dispatched to the Academy of Korean Studies), fraudulently hired as a career public official at the Chungbuk Danyang County Election Commission.
At that time, Song requested Han and Park, who were in charge of personnel affairs, to hire his daughter as a public official at the Chungbuk Election Commission. Han and Park excluded other already recommended candidates from the hiring process and informally conducted a suitability investigation while preselecting Song’s daughter as the successful candidate.
They then formed an interview panel consisting only of internal Chungbuk Election Commission staff, informed the panel members before the interview that the applicant was Song’s daughter, and ensured she received the highest score. Afterwards, they concealed this entire process and had the Central Election Commission approve her transfer.
Song demanded that Danyang County Election Commission hire a career official for his daughter, who wished to work at the Election Commission, and Song and Park were found to have frequently communicated about Song’s daughter’s name, contact information, application status, and expected hiring date.
Han is also accused of conspiring with Park to fraudulently hire Lee, the daughter of a high school classmate who was a public official at the Goesan County Office in Chungbuk, as a career public official at the Chungbuk Goesan County Election Commission.
The two arbitrarily designated Goesan County, where Lee resides, as the target area for career hiring, skipped the candidate recommendation process, preselected Lee as the successful candidate, and conducted suitability investigations and interviews in the same manner as with Song’s daughter, ensuring Lee received the highest score.
Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-dong, Seoul. Photo by Choi Seok-jin, legal affairs reporter
The prosecution requested arrest warrants for Song and Han, but on the 7th, the court dismissed the warrants, stating that although this is a serious matter concerning the fairness of public official hiring procedures, most related evidence has been secured, and there is no risk of flight or evidence destruction, making detention unnecessary and unreasonable.
A prosecution official stated, "The Election Commission is an independent institution specially stipulated by the Constitution for the 'fair management of elections.' Due to the nature of its work, it is perceived to offer more promotion opportunities and fewer chances of public complaints compared to local government officials."
According to the Ministry of Personnel Management, Election Commission officials are promoted to grade 8 in an average of 1.83 years after joining, which is 2.05 years faster than national officials and 0.29 years faster than local officials, and promoted to grade 7 in an average of 2.92 years, which is 3.29 years faster than national officials and 1.59 years faster than local officials.
Additionally, the prosecution official said, "Song and Han exploited loopholes in the career competitive hiring system to pass public office down to their children, leading to this crime. In fact, after transferring to the Election Commission as grade 8 officials, Song was promoted to grade 7 in 1 year and 4 months (2 years and 2 months after grade 8 promotion), and Lee was promoted in 1 year and 10 months (2 years after grade 8 promotion), both earlier than local officials of the same rank."
The prosecution began investigating allegations of fraudulent hiring at the Election Commission in May last year following an investigation request from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and complaints from civic groups.
After raiding the Central Election Commission and others in September of the same year and investigating defendants and witnesses, the prosecution discovered additional charges against Han and Park for fraudulently hiring Lee and continued the investigation.
A prosecution official said, "We will do our utmost to maintain the prosecution so that the defendants receive sentences commensurate with their crimes, and we will promptly investigate the substance of other Election Commission fraudulent hiring cases, including those involving the former Secretary-General of the Central Election Commission who was also reported along with Song."
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