Changwon District Prosecutors' Office building [Yonhap News file photo]

Two National Election Commission (NEC) officials have been indicted on charges of manipulating the recruitment process to alter the gender balance, which resulted in qualified candidates being rejected.

The Changwon District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 4 (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jae-won) announced on the 30th that they had indicted two NEC officials, a man in his 50s (A) and a man in his 40s (B), without detention on charges including violation of the State Public Officials Act.

According to the prosecution, A and B are accused of arbitrarily selecting five successful candidates regardless of their final interview results and falsifying those results while working as recruitment officers at the Gyeongnam Provincial Election Commission between July and August 2021.

Investigations revealed that the duo intentionally lowered the interview scores of two female candidates, who had originally passed, to fail them under the pretext of needing to adjust the gender ratio of the final selections.

Conversely, they were found to have inflated the interview scores of two male candidates who had originally failed, ensuring their selection.

At the time, the two individuals, serving as a division head and a section chief at the Gyeongnam Provincial Election Commission, reportedly erased the initial pencil markings made by two of the four interviewers—both of whom were internal NEC staff—and replaced them with new scores written in felt-tip pen.

It is reported that A also participated in the interviews as an internal panel member.

A and B are currently understood to be working at different NEC offices, not the Gyeongnam Provincial Election Commission.

The two male candidates who were hired through this process are currently employed as NEC staff.

The prosecution, which investigated the case following a request from the Board of Audit and Inspection, stated that it has confirmed the two officials undermined the fairness of the personnel system within the NEC, a constitutional institution.

A prosecution official stated, "We will do our utmost to maintain the prosecution to ensure that they receive sentences commensurate with their crimes."