Former National Election Commission Secretary-General Kim Se-hwan [Yonhap News File Photo]Kim Se-hwan, the former Secretary-General of the National Election Commission (NEC), has been sentenced to prison in the first trial for charges of abusing his power to have his son hired as an NEC official and providing him with various illicit privileges.

In the sentencing hearing held on the 16th, the 12th Criminal Division of the Incheon District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Sang-ryeol) sentenced the former Secretary-General, who was indicted on charges of abuse of power and violation of the State Public Officials Act, to two years in prison.

However, the court did not order his immediate detention, citing that there was no risk of him destroying evidence or fleeing.

The court found the former Secretary-General guilty of all charges in the indictment, with the exception of the allegation that he ordered the conversion of his son's transfer exam to the Incheon City Election Commission to a non-face-to-face format.

The court stated, "As the Secretary-General at the time, the defendant had the authority to direct, supervise, and handle personnel matters for officials under his jurisdiction," adding, "The defendant informed the official in charge at the Incheon City Election Commission about his son's application and instructed them to appoint specific staff members as interviewers."

The court continued, "Since the defendant gave the instructions and the person in charge complied, this constituted forcing others to perform acts they were not obligated to do, violating the principle that career recruitment should be conducted fairly without improper external influence."

Regarding his son's transfer to the Incheon City Election Commission, the court noted, "The length-of-service requirement was lowered without reasonable justification, and the defendant's son was the sole beneficiary," and added, "It is confirmed that the defendant instructed the official in charge at the City Election Commission to provide his son with official housing and forced the allocation of an additional unit for his son's sake."

The court also rejected the defendant's argument that the evidence collected during the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI)’s functional audit of the NEC’s personnel management was illegally obtained and therefore inadmissible.

The Constitutional Court had previously ruled last year that the NEC does not fall under the scope of the BAI’s functional audits and that such audits are unconstitutional and illegal.

However, the court explained that it "noted that the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the infringement of authority did not extend to nullifying the audit conducted by the BAI."

Furthermore, the court upheld the admissibility of the evidence, stating, "Even if the evidence collected during the audit was not obtained in accordance with legal procedures, excluding it as 'illegally obtained' would lead to results contrary to the pursuit of substantive truth."

In explaining the reasoning for the sentencing, the court noted that the NEC, as a constitutional institution granted independent authority and status regarding personnel management, is held to a higher standard of fairness and transparency.

The court emphasized, "The social promise that equal opportunities will be provided to all and that laws and principles will be applied uniformly is the minimum foundation that sustains our society," adding, "Public officials must maintain stricter standards of fairness and transparency than anyone else regarding the public authority granted by the people."

The court added, "The defendant, forgetting his duties as a high-ranking official of the NEC, abused his power and forced subordinates to perform acts they were not obligated to do. This collapsed the principle of fairness—the belief that hard work is rewarded—and caused a sense of loss and helplessness among the public, including the younger generation who strive to enter public service based on merit and effort."

"This crime, committed behind the shield of the NEC's independent status guaranteed by the Constitution, has damaged the institution's integrity," the court stated. "Given the fundamental principle that responsibilities must be proportional to the scale of power and authority, it is only appropriate that the defendant be strictly punished."

The former Secretary-General was indicted without detention for exercising his influence between November and December 2019 to have his son hired as a Grade 8 public official at the Ganghwa-gun Election Commission, which is under the Incheon City Election Commission.

He is also accused of violating laws by providing official housing to his son when he was illicitly transferred to the Incheon City Election Commission office just one year later.

The former Secretary-General's son had been working at the Ganghwa-gun office before transferring to the Election Commission through a competitive recruitment process for experienced professionals.

It was found that the former Secretary-General, who was serving as the Deputy Secretary-General (vice-minister level) of the National Election Commission at the time, selected interviewers who were close to him and called them before the interviews to inform them of his son's application.