As criticism of the National Election Commission grows over the shortage of ballots in the 9th nationwide local elections (the June 3 local elections) and errors in entering vote-counting results, what appears to be a captured corporations review left by a former National Election Commission employee is spreading online again.
On the 12th, several images of a National Election Commission corporations review were shared on online communities and social media (SNS). The captured screen showed a post marked as written by a former employee of the National Election Commission, who gave a one-star rating and left a review titled "I'll be honest."
In the capture, the writer listed as a strength, "I got in thanks to my big uncle's backing," and "If you look around me at the office, everyone's connected by marriage or distant kin, all very diverse." As a drawback, the writer said, "A company like family is both this organization's strength and weakness." As the reason for changing jobs, the writer wrote, "Because of a very deep sense of skepticism and self-reproach over moral hazard."
The National Election Commission has recently been at the center of controversy over poor election management. During the June 3 local elections, some polling stations ran short of ballots, causing voters to wait or disrupting voting, and input errors in the vote-counting results were also confirmed in the North Jeolla education superintendent election and the Gyeonggi education superintendent election. In this situation, expressions like "big uncle's backing" and "connected by marriage or distant kin" are drawing renewed attention as they intersect with past allegations of preferential hiring for children of senior officials at the commission.
The hiring controversy at the commission had already been flagged in a Board of Audit and Inspection audit. On Feb. 27 last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection released the results of its audit on the "actual state of personnel management, including hiring at the Election Commission," and announced that misconduct had been confirmed at seven city and provincial commissions, including requests to hire family and relatives, manipulation of interview scores, and fabrication and concealment of personnel-related documentary evidence. The Board of Audit and Inspection demanded disciplinary action or notified the facts of misconduct for 32 former and current employees involved in hiring corruption.
The audit found indications that influence was exerted on family hiring from senior leadership down to midlevel managers, and pointed out that personnel and hiring staff employed illegal or expedient methods. In some cases, children of senior officials were hired in advantageous ways through career-competitive recruitment, and potential favoritism was found in how interview panels were formed and how evaluations were conducted.
Roh Tae-ak, then chair of the National Election Commission, issued a public apology in March last year over the issue of preferential hiring for children of senior officials. The commission said there was no legal basis to discipline the senior officials' children who were the beneficiaries of preferential hiring, but, saying it did not meet public expectations, placed them on leave from their duties.
Right after the preferential hiring allegations surfaced, the commission clashed with the Board of Audit and Inspection over whether to accept an audit. In June 2023, the commission held a meeting and said it would be difficult to comply with the board's job inspection. The reason was that, as a constitutionally independent body, the commission is not subject to the board's job inspection. The Board of Audit and Inspection countered that under the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, the commission is included among the subjects of job inspection, and warned it would respond strictly if the commission did not comply with requests to submit materials.
As the controversy grew, the commission that same month partially accepted a Board of Audit and Inspection audit limited to the allegations of preferential hiring of children. However, it filed a competence dispute with the Constitutional Court, saying it would seek a ruling on whether the board has the authority to inspect the commission's duties.
On Feb. 27 last year, the Constitutional Court sided with the commission. The court found that the Board of Audit and Inspection's job inspection titled "actual state of personnel management, including hiring at the Election Commission," conducted from June 2023 to Feb. 2025, infringed on the commission's authority to perform its duties independently. It concluded that the board has no job inspection authority over the commission. As a result, separate from the board's audit findings, legal controversy remains over the methods of external inspection and control over the commission.
It has not been verified whether the writer of the corporations review now spreading actually worked there. Even so, amid repeated ballot shortages and counting errors, it is being rapidly shared online and is being taken as an example of how deep the distrust runs toward the overall operation of the National Election Commission's organization.