Central Election Commission Appoints Kim Yong-bin, Former Judicial Research and Training Institute Director, as New Secretary-General

Central Election Commission Member Verifies Secretary-General's Eligibility on Neutrality, Fairness, and Morality

The National Election Commission appointed Kim Yong-bin, former head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, as the new Secretary-General on the 25th, filling the vacancy that had lasted for about a month due to allegations of preferential hiring of children.

On this day, the National Election Commission emphasized that in appointing Kim Yong-bin as the new Secretary-General, it broke from the tradition of promoting and appointing the Secretary-General from within the organization and expanded the pool of candidates to include both internal and external personnel. This was explained as an effort to objectively identify and improve internal organizational issues. Kim is the first Secretary-General from outside the organization in 35 years since Han Won-do, a former head of the Legislative Affairs Office, resigned in 1988.

The head of the Secretariat of the Election Commission had been appointed through internal promotion, but the controversy over preferential hiring of children raised the need to recruit from outside to reform the commission. Previously, former Secretary-General Park Chan-jin and former Deputy Secretary-General Song Bong-seop resigned together on May 25 amid allegations of preferential hiring of their children. It was revealed that their children, who had worked as local government officials, were hired as career officials at the Election Commission in 2022 and 2018, respectively, sparking controversy.

The commissioners conducted verification procedures including document reviews on multiple candidates, narrowed down to one candidate, and on the 18th, confirmed the final suitability as Secretary-General of a constitutional institution through a presentation of views and Q&A, assessing neutrality, fairness, and morality.

The National Election Commission stated that it considered Kim’s 33 years of service as a judge, during which he handled socially significant cases with integrity and a strong sense of duty, and his excellent yet gentle leadership that earned him great trust within the judiciary. Additionally, starting as the Chairperson of the Cheongyang County Election Commission in 1994 and up to the Chairperson of the Gangwon Province Election Commission in 2019, Kim held chairperson positions in five district, city, county, and provincial election commissions, managing a total of seven public elections. Based on his broad understanding of the commission’s work, he was judged to be the right person to reform the commission from both internal and external perspectives and restore public trust.

Kim passed the 26th Judicial Examination and served as a judge at the Incheon District Court, judge at the Seoul High Court, judicial research judge at the Supreme Court, chief judge at the Busan High Court, chief judge at the Seoul High Court, chief judge at the Chuncheon District Court, and head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He is a classmate of President Yoon Seok-yeol from Seoul National University Law School, class of ’79.

Regarding concerns about political neutrality raised by some, Kim said, "There is no need to worry."

On this day, Kim met with reporters at the National Election Commission building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and said, "There are rumors that because President Yoon and I are university classmates, there are questions about my neutrality as Secretary-General. However, the attitude of a public official lies in faithfully performing the duties assigned, so there is no need to worry about such personal connections."

He added, "For reference, although President Yoon and I are classmates, I want to clearly state that we have had no private contact for nearly 40 years since graduating from university."

Regarding the controversy over preferential hiring of children at the Election Commission, Kim said, "The recent inadequate management of early voting and allegations of preferential hiring have caused great disappointment to the public. In this emergency situation, as Secretary-General to overcome this, I will ensure that the commission’s internal audit functions are properly performed and thoroughly review the commission’s audit organization and its duties to identify any shortcomings and work to improve them to prevent such unfortunate incidents in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.