Election watchdog attendance woes fuel calls for sweeping reform

Only two of the nine members of the National Election Commission showed up at its headquarters on the day of the June 3 local elections, newly released data shows. As a wave of reform legislation targeting the NEC piles up in the National Assembly, critics say the real starting point must be fixing the commission's internal disciplinary system, which has repeatedly let misconduct slide with little more than a slap on the wrist.

According to data obtained by People Power Party lawmaker Park Sung-min from the NEC, only NEC Chairman Noh Tae-ak and standing commissioner Wi Cheol-hwan reported to the commission's offices in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on June 3.

The seven non-standing commissioners did not come in that day. The NEC said non-standing members "do not typically report to the office on local election day, as there are no decisions requiring their presence."

Separately, according to the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Yun Geon-yeong, former Chairman Noh was present at NEC headquarters on only 29 of 60 statutory working days — 48.3 percent — between March 3, when he stepped down as a Supreme Court justice, and June 3. Even counting eight days when he had no attendance record due to outside engagements such as visits to regional election commissions, his total working days came to just 37, barely clearing 60 percent of the full period. The NEC chairmanship is a non-standing post with no fixed attendance requirement.

As the fallout from the ballot shortage crisis continues to expose the commission's inner workings, calls are growing in political circles for a thorough overhaul of the NEC.

PPP lawmaker Park Sung-min introduced legislation that would require an NEC chair — if serving as a Supreme Court justice at the time of election to the chairmanship — to leave the post when that justice's term expires. The bill would also abolish provisions granting NEC commissioners immunity from arrest and exemption from military call-up. Fellow PPP lawmaker Yoo Yong-won introduced a separate amendment to the NEC Act that would establish an inspector general at the commission and require an annual audit report to be submitted to the National Assembly before the opening of each regular session.

Constitutional reform has also entered the conversation. Kim Young-bae, deputy head of the Democratic Party's election system reform task force, outlined a two-stage plan on a radio program that day: first, pursue legislative amendments to convert the NEC chairmanship into a full-time standing post and expand the number of standing commissioners; then push a "single-issue constitutional amendment" to allow audits by the Board of Audit and Inspection, among other changes.

However, critics argue that the most urgent reform is fixing the NEC's internal disciplinary practices, which have repeatedly resolved serious incidents with only minor penalties.

According to the office of PPP lawmaker Kim Seung-su, during the 2024 general election, officials miscounted more than 2,000 valid ballots as invalid in the Suwon Jeong constituency count. Three Grade 7 civil servants received three-month pay cuts, while two Grade 4 officials received only a reprimand. Four officials at Grades 5 through 7 were let off with an informal warning — a disciplinary substitute that takes prior merit or mitigating circumstances into account — rather than any formal sanction. The same type of counting error ultimately recurred in the superintendent of education vote during the June 3 local elections.

"From the nepotistic hiring scandal to the light-touch disciplinary record, there is already broad public consensus on the need for external checks and oversight," political commentator Park Chang-hwan said. "For an independent institution, its capacity for self-correction has fallen far short of the accountability expected of it. Whatever form the organization takes going forward, that must change."