NEC miscalculated scores for hiring process of 57 applicants

The Board of Audit and Inspection announced on Monday that the National Election Commission miscalculated scores for 57 applicants in 23 hiring rounds of career employees from 2019 until the last year, which changed the written screening results of three applicants. While the National Election Commission’s hiring of relatives of its existing members as career employees emerged to the surface, an issue in its overall career employee hiring system is under criticism.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, some applicants received extra points even when they were not eligible. For example, the National Election Commission gave nine extra points to an applicant in the written screening process to hire three industrial assistant clerks with previous experience in August 2019. While the career points in question are given to those with relevant electrical installation experience at national, local governments, and public institutions, the applicant only worked at a private educational foundation. The applicant passed the written screening stage with miscalculated scores.

Meanwhile, some failed to pass the screening stage even when they were eligible for extra points as they didn’t receive the points. An applicant with three years and three months of experience in program development applied for a screening process to hire five computer-related assistant clerks in November 2019. He was supposed to receive 11 points according to the commission’s policy and pass the screening as a Top 4 applicant, but he didn’t make it as he did not receive such points.

The Board of Audit and Inspection ordered that the National Election Commission should strengthen training for eval‎uators for the career employee hiring process and conduct hiring tests by referring to the rules of the Ministry of Personnel Management. The board also sent a warning to Chairperson Rho Tae-ak of the commission. “An applicant who passed the screening stage couldn’t make it through the final interview round as his/her career points were miscalculated,” a board member said. “As it is believed that it wasn’t intentional to give preferential treatment to a different applicant, a warning was sent.” The Board of Audit and Inspection is collecting data on preferential hiring of the existing members’ relatives and acquaintances at the National Election Commission and municipal and provincial election commissions.


Jun-Il Kim jikim@donga.com