The National Election Commission turned out to be absolutely wild lol

Date

Main Schedule

Departure from Incheon and arrival in Rome

Rome political site tour (Roman Forum, Colosseum, Italian Rome City Hall, etc.) Vatican Museum / St. Peter's training materials organization

Through information disclosure requests, KBS analyzed overseas training reports from the Central Election Management Commission and reported that a significant portion of overseas training was essentially disguised overseas tourism. In particular, some business trips were practically just sightseeing level, and there were even cases where they took European trips as outright package tour products.

If you actually look at some of the overseas training reports, you'll notice they're no different from itineraries and reviews you'd see in travel blogs or student field trip programs. The above training report was written by 7 employees from the Gyeonggi Province Election Commission after going on an "overseas training for employee capacity building" in 2017. The stated purpose of the business trip was "securing international competitiveness through experiencing advanced European countries' political and electoral systems." But contrary to the grand purpose, all the places visited were tourist attractions.

The next year in 2018, 6 employees from the Gyeonggi Province Election Commission went to England and Italy. This time they just went to Italy first and England after—the majority of the itinerary was the same. The only difference was they visited the Italian Parliament for just one day and briefly met with a staff member in charge.

Upon investigation, these two overseas trainings turned out to be 'European package tours.' Election officials signed up for travel agency package tour products and went on European trips, then wrote reports claiming they had conducted overseas training. The 2018 Italian Parliament visit was squeezed into 'free time' during the package tour.

Foreign trainings exposed through information disclosure requests

KBS obtained the last 5 years (2015-2019) of undisclosed National Election Commission overseas business trip result reports through information disclosure requests. Over 5 years, the NEC had a total of 334 overseas business trips, of which 95 were 'employee capacity enhancement trainings.'

Training participants are selected through 2 pathways: a 'recommendation system' where city/province election commissions recommend high-performing employees, and a 'public recruitment system' where employees autonomously form teams and apply. Those selected through the recommendation system receive 2.5 million won per person, while those selected through public recruitment receive 1.5 million won per person. While some personal costs must be covered, this is unmistakably government employee overseas training funded by taxpayer money.

However, a significant number of employee capacity-building training programs show overseas schedules. After analyzing all capacity-building training result reports from 2018, when the most overseas training was sent in the past 5 years, we found that among a 10-day schedule, 18 out of 26 teams visited local institutions 1-2 times. They visited 1-2 local institutions and spent the rest of the schedule mostly doing tourism under the guise of "local cultural exploration." 7 teams didn't visit even a single institution.

"Vienna is not the correct expression, but melange coffee is"... A ridiculous training report

Since the focus of the training was on tourism rather than work, several absurd contents were found in the result reports.

Some reports pieced together content through internet searches. When a plagiarism detection program checked 95 reports from overseas training results, 16 of them had plagiarism rates exceeding 50%.

Is this why they kept the business trip reports confidential?

There was a reason why Election Commission staff's overseas trips hadn't been exposed to the public. They keep the results reports non-public after business trips. When past overseas trips became controversial, National Assembly members and government officials started disclosing results reports on their websites. An Election Commission official stated, "We only register overseas business trip result reports on internal networks where all staff can access them."

In fact, Election Commission staff's overseas trips have been problematic in the past. During the 2004 National Audit, Rep. Kang Chang-il of the then-Uri Party pointed out that "the Central Election Commission spent approximately 85 million won in 2003 to conduct 'China and Asia inspection trips' for staff, but the actual itinerary was replaced with cultural experiences rather than visits to overseas institutions." After that, Election Commission staff's overseas trips frequently became issues. However, even though the Election Commission was aware of the problems, they didn't fix them and just let them slide. They only created detailed standards to review the appropriateness of business trips after the Board of Audit and Inspection's point out last year.

Election Commission says "We have plans for staff capacity building training this year"

The Election Commission allocated 248 million won for staff capacity building training this year. The Election Commission stated, "We plan to review whether to proceed with training in the second half after monitoring COVID-19 trends."

When reporters pointed out that the capacity building training schedule includes many recreational activities, an Election Commission official responded, "We need to check if there were such tourist-oriented visits in the past, but we're operating it in a way that doesn't run like that."

Apart from 'capacity building training,' the Election Commission sends employees abroad every time elections are held under the pretext of 'election observation.' They're operating a separate program that aligns with the purpose of capacity building training. Given that overseas travel is already commonplace, there's a need for fundamental review on whether it's appropriate to use taxpayer money to send 'staff capacity building training.'

Politics

[Exclusive] Every election, overseas trips, election commission that spent 250 billion won... 'Is it just for employee overseas training?'

Myung Hee-jin Reporter

Input 2023-06-05 18:07 | Modified 2023-06-05 18:07

From 2011, 146 people on long and short-term dispatch. Even in 2018 when there were no general or presidential elections, 700 million votes were all over the place... No dispatch standards. "Essentially being used as employee overseas training," critics point out.

Election Commission's overseas dispatch effectiveness controversy

The National Election Commission, at the center of controversy over "nepotistic hiring of children," has been revealed to have dispatched 146 election officials abroad over 12 years from 2011, investing 24.8 billion won under the pretext of preparing for overseas voting. Election officials were sent to overseas diplomatic missions for terms ranging from as short as 1 year to as long as 3 years, but experts point out this had little impact on improving voter turnout. The commission even spent 700 million won on dispatching election management staff in 2018, a year when there were no general or presidential elections.

Politics

[Exclusive] Election Commission's 1-Year Overseas Dispatch Without Even Checking Language Scores

Dong-A Ilbo | Updated 2023-06-22 04:31

Overseas Korean voters' ballot management - Overseas election officials dispatched to 7-8 countries in units of 2 years, 20 people sent on "short-term" basis without language proficiency requirements - "Special treatment for foreign service" - Election Commission claims "official duty dispatch"

[Exclusive] 97 Election Commission Employees Dispatched Abroad Without Even Language Test Scores

The Central Election Commission was found to have dispatched employees overseas for managing overseas elections without requiring them to submit language test scores.

However, the National Election Commission subsequently amended its internal regulations to exempt short-term dispatched staff from foreign language requirements. In April 2015, the NEC amended its regulations on dispatching civil servants to overseas diplomatic missions, allowing candidates for short-term overseas election officials (less than 2 years) to be selected for dispatch without meeting foreign language requirements. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited reasons such as "election management ability is more important than foreign language proficiency due to the nature of overseas election affairs, and work is conducted targeting overseas Koreans who speak Korean." As a result, 97 NEC staff members were dispatched to overseas diplomatic missions over 10 years without submitting language test scores.

It's being evaluated as unusual for overseas dispatched civil servants to be exempted from submitting language test scores. The NEC explained to the Board of Audit that "foreign language ability cannot be considered essential because the main duties of overseas election officials are directed at overseas Koreans who speak Korean." However, the Board of Audit pointed out that "foreign language ability is essential for basic job performance, and the NEC itself acknowledges this fact through its overseas election officials manual."

In May 2023, the Board of Audit launched an audit of the NEC regarding allegations that children of 4 current and former senior executives of the NEC received preferential treatment in the career staff recruitment process, and released its final report on the 27th of last month.

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Economy [EXCLUSIVE] 176 people took leave this year... Election Commission employees taking breaks during election season | Reporter Yang Ji-hye | Updated 2026.05.21 7:49 PM | Article Source 1) Gaga

Chronic practice repeating 'refrain from unnecessary leave' despite administrative notice sent 'election season' second time since '22 with most public recruitment expansion plan being pursued but structural problem resolution measures must be established

Election Commission leave status (Unit: people)

Election Commission recruitment status (Unit: people) Public recruitment

Career recruitment

2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Year ※ Based on May 1st of each year

Source: Election Commission As the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections scheduled for the 3rd of next month approach about a month away, it has been confirmed that the number of people on leave within the Election Commission had reached 176 as of early last month. The practice of a sharp increase in people taking leave during every election season is being repeated, and experts point out that fundamental solutions are needed.