The National Election Commission’s credibility crisis

 
Chae Byung-gun
 
The author is acting editor-in-chief at the JoongAng Ilbo. 
 
The National Election Commission (NEC) is the central body overseeing election management. Yet, as elections approach, an unusual trend has emerged: a surge in NEC employees taking leaves of absence. In 2022, when both a presidential election (March) and local elections (June) were held, this phenomenon became particularly pronounced. In March 2021, a year before the presidential election, 89 NEC employees were on leave. By February 2022, just a month before the election, that number had more than doubled to 204. According to an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), this amounted to 7 percent of the NEC’s total work force — the highest rate in its history.
 
To compensate for the staffing void caused by these absences, the NEC resorted to hiring experienced professionals. In 2022, as the number of employees on leave surged, the commission drastically increased its hiring plan from 47 to 152. The real issue, however, lay in the nepotism scandals that arose during this hiring process. An NEC official defended the situation, saying, “It is inevitable for employees to take leaves when they struggle to balance work with child care or medical treatment. Parental leave, after all, is encouraged at the national level.” Of course, employees should be entitled to take leave when necessary, and the BAI did not take issue with the increase in absences itself. But from a taxpayer’s perspective, it remains puzzling why this trend intensifies during election periods and whether viable alternatives exist.
 

Rho Tae-ak, a commissioner of the National Election Commission (NEC), walks inside his agency's headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi on March 5. [YONHAP]

 
The NEC’s staffing irregularities extend beyond this. While the commission has an official quota of 21 Grade-1 positions, it currently operates with 23 such posts — two more than the government’s approved limit. This anomaly arose because the NEC unilaterally expanded the number of high-ranking positions without consulting the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF). Ordinarily, government ministries must obtain approval from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) before negotiating budget allocations with the MOEF. But as a constitutionally independent body, the NEC is exempt from the MOIS review and only requires MOEF coordination. The problem? The NEC expanded these positions without securing the necessary budget. To bypass this issue, the commission adopted an improvised solution: assigning one person to two Grade-1 positions, effectively creating a “dual-hat” system to mask the job surplus.
 
After a nepotism scandal involving the secretary-general’s child surfaced in April 2023, the NEC quietly amended a crucial phrase in its internal regulations, known as the “NEC Public Officials Rules.” This set of regulations governs recruitment, promotions and disciplinary measures for NEC employees. Previously, Article 2, Clause 4 stipulated that the NEC “shall comply” with regulations governing administrative branch officials. The revised version, however, states that the NEC “may comply” with such rules. The difference is striking. The former imposes a mandatory obligation, whereas the latter allows discretionary application.
 
The BAI suspects the NEC altered this rule to shield its officials from disciplinary action following the hiring scandal. The NEC, for its part, insists that “it is difficult to apply administrative branch regulations directly to the NEC” and that “the commission has always had discretion in determining compliance.” By this logic, the rule that had stood unchallenged for 28 years since its establishment in 1995 was flawed from the outset.
 

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Korea’s Constitution places the NEC in Chapter 7, following the judiciary (Chapter 5) and the Constitutional Court (Chapter 6), underscoring its status as an independent institution of comparable significance. This reflects the vital role of electoral integrity in sustaining democracy.
 
Yet, the NEC’s actions in recent years suggest a disregard for its responsibilities as an autonomous body. In 2022, after the “Basket Voting” controversy — where overseas voters’ ballots were mishandled — the commission faced intense public criticism. It responded by disciplining those responsible, and its chairperson, Noh Jeong-hee, resigned. However, it later emerged that the NEC had quietly reinstated a key figure from the scandal to a top position in their home region. In its latest audit, the BAI requested internal documentation on the appointment process for senior officials, but the NEC refused, citing “personnel independence as a constitutional body.”
 

‘Gongmyung-sungue’, Just and impartial elections, is engraved on a large rock at the entrance of the headquarters of National Election Commission(NEC) in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Feb. 28. [NEWS1]

 
Ironically, the commission has at times benefited from public caution in scrutinizing its operations. Many fear that excessive criticism of its mismanagement could fuel baseless election fraud claims. But when leniency persists, organizations begin to treat it as entitlement. If left unchecked, the NEC’s complacency could lead to more severe problems.
 
A striking example is the NEC’s approach to cybersecurity. In 2022, it conducted a self-evaluation of its information security systems and awarded itself a perfect score of 100. The following year, however, when the National Intelligence Service conducted a joint inspection, the NEC scored a mere 31.5 points. Rather than acknowledging its glaring security vulnerabilities, the commission responded with a press release arguing that such findings could “stoke election denialism.” 
 

Staffers from the election commission in Seoul review ballots in central Seoul on Oct. 14, 2024. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

 
The NEC must change — immediately. The public expects airtight management of both online election systems and physical ballot processing. Its lax internal discipline, culture of complacency, and repeated ethical lapses only erode public trust. If the commission fails to address these issues now, restoring confidence in its integrity will become even more difficult.
 
Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.