Former NEC Secretary-General Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison Over Son's Preferential Hiring

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The National Election Commission (NEC) has faced criticism for operating like a family business, following a series of allegations regarding preferential hiring of children, in addition to controversies over poor election management. Kim Se-hwan, the former Secretary-General of the NEC who was at the center of these allegations, has been sentenced to two years in prison in the first trial for his involvement in his son's hiring.

Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has the story.

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[(Reporter: "Most of the charges were found guilty. What is your position?") ...]

The Incheon District Court sentenced Kim Se-hwan, the former Secretary-General of the National Election Commission, to two years in prison for his involvement in the unfair hiring of his son as an NEC employee.

Kim's son, identified as A, was working as a civil servant at the Ganghwa County Office before transferring to the Ganghwa County Election Commission through a career recruitment process in 2019.

Within a year of his transfer, he moved to the Incheon City Election Commission secretariat and was also provided with official housing. The court determined that the former Secretary-General had unfairly intervened in this process.

The court found him guilty of designating specific interviewers, informing them of his son's application, and instructing staff to designate the officetel where his son would reside as official housing.

During the transfer examination for the Incheon City Election Commission, qualification requirements were relaxed without any reasonable justification, and the court determined that Kim's son was the only person to benefit from this change.

The court rebuked the former Secretary-General, stating that he "not only caused a sense of loss and helplessness among the public, including the younger generation, but also sparked social outrage."

However, the court did not order him to be taken into court custody, citing that he has no prior criminal record and there is no risk of him destroying evidence or fleeing.

Last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection conducted an audit of the NEC and revealed that over 870 violations of regulations were uncovered in approximately 290 career recruitment processes at the NEC since 2013.

Reported by Kim Han-gyeol | Video by Chae Cheol-ho | Graphics by Lee Jong-jeong | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.