'Preferential Hiring of Son' Kim Se-hwan, Former Secretary General of the Election Commission, Arrest Warrant Dismissed

"Destruction of Evidence, Difficult to Conclude Possibility of Escape"

The arrest warrant for Kim Se-hwan, former Secretary General of the Central Election Commission (ministerial level), who is suspected of preferential hiring for his child, was dismissed.

Former Secretary General of the Central Election Commission Kim Se-hwan, who is suspected of preferential hiring for his child, is appearing on the 22nd at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to undergo a pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review).

On the 22nd, Judge Kim Seok-beom, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant after conducting a pre-arrest suspect hearing (warrant substantive examination) for Kim, who was charged with abuse of authority, obstruction of exercise of rights, and violation of the National Public Service Act.

Judge Kim stated the reason for dismissal, saying, "Although the matter is serious, it is difficult to conclude that there is a possibility of evidence destruction or flight risk."

Former Secretary General Kim is accused of conducting the Election Commission’s hiring process in a way favorable to his son, Kim Mo. His son Kim worked at Ganghwa County Office and transferred to the Incheon Election Commission through experienced hiring in January 2020, and was promoted to grade 7 within six months.

Three internal committee members participated as interviewers in the hiring interview, all of whom were former colleagues who had worked with former Secretary General Kim in Incheon. Among them, two gave Kim Mo full marks, and the remaining one gave the highest rating of "Excellent" in four out of five evaluation categories.

The prosecution believes that the Election Commission deliberately increased the number of recruits for the Incheon Election Commission for Kim Mo and removed the hiring condition that "he cannot be transferred to another region for five years."

At the time of hiring, former Secretary General Kim held the position of Deputy Secretary General (vice ministerial level), the second-in-command of the Central Election Commission Secretariat. It was also found that Election Commission employees referred to Kim’s son as "Seja" (Crown Prince) in internal messenger chats.

Since May last year, the prosecution has been investigating the Election Commission’s hiring corruption allegations based on the Commission’s own investigation request and complaints from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. The Board of Audit and Inspection also detected signs of preferential hiring for children of former and current Election Commission executives, including former Secretary General Kim, and requested an investigation in April.

In March, the prosecution indicted former Deputy Secretary General Song Bong-seop without detention on charges of illicit hiring requests for his daughter.