National Election Commission [Yonhap]
National Election Commission [Yonhap]

Staff members at the National Election Commission manipulated interview scores during a hiring process to fail two female applicants and pass two male applicants, citing a need to balance the gender ratio among successful candidates, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Changwon District Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Division 4, led by chief prosecutor Lee Jae-won, indicted two male NEC employees — a man in his 50s identified as A and a man in his 40s identified as B — without detention on charges including violation of the State Public Officials Act, the office announced Tuesday.

The two men served as hiring managers at the South Gyeongsang Province NEC office. They are accused of lowering the interview scores of two female applicants who had initially passed, disqualifying them during a career-track hiring process conducted in July and August 2021, on the grounds that the gender ratio of successful candidates needed to be adjusted. Investigators also found that the pair inflated the scores of two male applicants who had initially failed, allowing them to pass instead.

The two men erased pencil-marked scores recorded by two internal NEC members among the four interviewers, then rewrote the figures in pen to alter the results. A is also believed to have participated in the interviews himself as one of the internal panel members.

The two men are currently employed at NEC offices other than the South Gyeongsang Province branch.

The two male applicants hired as a result of the manipulation are currently working as NEC employees.

Prosecutors launched the investigation following a referral from the Board of Audit and Inspection, among other channels.


paq@heraldcorp.com