Former Election Commission Deputy Secretary-General Song Bong-seop's arrest warrant review for alleged daughter's fraudulent hiring [Yonhap News photo]A former employee of the Provincial Election Commission, who was in charge of hiring at the time, testified in court that they "received instructions from a superior" regarding allegations of fraudulent hiring of the daughter of Song Bong-seop, former Deputy Secretary-General of the National Election Commission.

Mr. A, a former personnel manager, testified as a witness in the trial held on the 22nd at the Cheongju District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Cho Jin-yong of Criminal Division 6, concerning charges of obstruction of official duties against Song and two others.

When asked by the prosecution if he had received instructions from a superior regarding the hiring process of Song's daughter in January 2018, Mr. A replied, "Mr. B (indicted without detention), who was my superior, instructed me to send an email to Song's daughter with information on application documents prior to the application period, and I did so."

When asked about the process of hiring through a 'non-public competitive recruitment method,' which involves hiring based on recommendations from local governments without public announcements, he stated, "It had already been decided that way when I joined."

He added, "I understood the non-public competitive recruitment process to be one where candidates are sought and then hired if there are no particular issues, so I knew that (Song's daughter) would be hired," and "I also heard Mr. B tell Song that he would recommend Song's daughter to the Danyang County Election Commission after speaking with Song on the phone in the office."

When the prosecution asked if Song's daughter, who was a civil servant in Boryeong City, Chungcheongnam-do, was subject to transfer restrictions until October 2018, he replied, "I recall Mr. B saying that it was not applicable because it was a transfer to a national civil servant position, not between local governments, so it was fine."

When the prosecution asked if it was unusual for a suitability investigation of Song's daughter to have been conducted before the application period, Mr. A said, "I thought it was unusual, but I assumed it was the normal procedure because they had hired that way before."

Regarding the appointment of all three evaluators (interviewers) as internal members, he explained, "We received an affirmative response from the National Election Commission after making an inquiry."

However, Song's side countered that such hiring processes were customary and that there was no fraudulent hiring.

Song's defense attorney argued during cross-examination, "The non-public competitive recruitment method was a practice used by the National Election Commission, so the Provincial Election Commission also adopted it," and emphasized, "Furthermore, a recent special audit by the National Election Commission revealed that in 123 cases of career recruitment over the past five years, all evaluators were 100% internal members."

He also stated, "The Provincial Election Commission has previously recruited candidates through the non-public competitive recruitment method when there was an urgent need to fill positions, and an audit concluded that this method did not violate the National Civil Service Act," adding, "This was simply part of the hiring practice conventionally followed by the Election Commission, not fraudulent hiring."

In response, Chief Judge Cho Jin-yong asked Mr. A, "Then, is it the case that only internal Election Commission personnel or direct contacts can know who the non-public competitive recruitment method is targeted at, and the selection process is composed solely of internal Election Commission members, and hiring is approved by the Election Commission Director?" to which Mr. A replied, "Yes."

Song was indicted on charges of exerting influence on Mr. B and two others to fraudulently hire his daughter, who was working at the Boryeong City Hall, as a career civil servant at the Danyang County Election Commission in January 2018.

Mr. B and two others are also accused of being involved in the fraudulent hiring of the daughter of a high school friend, who was a civil servant at the Goesan County Office, as a career civil servant at the Goesan County Election Commission.

All of them are fully denying the charges, stating, "We did not fraudulently hire anyone."