Court Overturns Election Commission's Revocation of Appointment Over 'Dad Chance' Allegations

A court has ruled that the National Election Commission's decision to revoke the appointment of the daughter of former Secretary-General Park Chan-jin, who had been embroiled in a preferential hiring controversy, was unlawful.

According to the legal community, the Administrative Division 12 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Kang Jae-won) ruled in favor of the plaintiff on September 10 in a lawsuit filed by Park's daughter, surnamed Park, against the National Election Commission, asking the court to cancel the revocation of her appointment.

Park was hired as a Grade 9 official after passing the experienced professional open recruitment for the Jeonnam Election Commission in 2022, and was promoted to Grade 7 in 2024, before receiving a notice revoking her appointment in April of last year.

Following a growing social uproar in 2023 over suspicions of preferential hiring for children of high-ranking NEC officials, former Secretary-General Park voluntarily resigned and was subjected to a prosecution search and seizure in October of that year.

In February of last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of an audit showing that interview scores had been manipulated during the experienced recruitment process for which Park applied.

According to the audit report, the interviewers at the time left the scoring sections blank, only signed the signature lines, and submitted only the final rankings of the six successful applicants to office staff.

Subsequently, the office staff categorized the six individuals as "passed" and arbitrarily filled in the scores in the rating sections.

It was also revealed that the office staff had distributed a status sheet containing information such as applicants over the age of 35 to the interviewers in advance.

In its notice of appointment revocation for Park, the Election Commission noted that her father, former Secretary-General Park, was the NEC Deputy Secretary-General at the time of hiring and was in a position to hold authority over personnel affairs and hiring while indirectly exercising influence.

It also specified that it took into account the fact that former Secretary-General Park "self-approved" his daughter's transfer approval in 2022, as well as circumstances in which the application period was unduly extended.

Park filed a lawsuit in August of last year, objecting to the Election Commission's revocation of her appointment.

Siding with Park, the court pointed out that the submitted audit report alone was insufficient to recognize the grounds for the disciplinary action.

While acknowledging that the interviewers could have known applicants' ages in advance and that unusual administrative procedures took place, such as Park and others passing despite no separate markings on the status sheet, the court stated, "There is no evidence to show that fraudulent or dishonest scoring or reporting took place."

It noted that there was no investigation whatsoever into whether the interviewers actually considered the applicant status table during the actual interview process, or whether the scores arbitrarily written by office staff differed from the evaluation results of the interviewers.

The court also pointed out that there was no evidence to suggest that her father, former Secretary-General Park, influenced the appointment process or gave direct or indirect instructions to office staff and evaluation members to commit irregularities.

Furthermore, noting that the timing of Park's application submission fell within the initially announced application period, the court asked, "How can it be understood that the schedule change infringed upon the fairness and reliability of the hiring process?"

"Even if all the unusual administrative procedures claimed by the defendant are recognized, it is difficult to acknowledge a public interest necessity that specifically targets and revokes only the plaintiff's appointment," the court ruled. "The unclear public interest necessity based on suspicions of irregularities is insufficient to justify the disadvantage the plaintiff would suffer."

Concluding that the revocation of Park's appointment was unlawful, the court ordered it to be canceled.

Previously, in July of last year, a lawsuit filed by the child of an NEC standing commissioner against the revocation of their appointment also resulted in a victory for the plaintiff.

At that time, the court also ruled that the revocation of appointment was unlawful on grounds such as the failure to confirm that the father had unduly influenced the hiring process.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.