Police, Election Commission Hold Election Strategy Meeting... Actively Crack Down on Financial and Public Opinion Manipulation

On the afternoon of the 21st, a demonstration for early voting and vote counting for the upcoming April 7 by-election was held at the Seoul Election Commission in Waryong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. An Election Commission staff member is demonstrating early voting. This demonstration included the issuance of early voting ballots, the voting and counting process, the handover and storage of early voting boxes, and an internal reveal of the ballot sorting machine. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission, and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 25th that they held a joint meeting of related agencies to prepare for the 20th presidential election and the 8th simultaneous local elections to be held this year.

At the meeting held in the small conference room of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the prosecution, police, and election commission decided to focus their efforts on cracking down on key target crimes such as bribery, spreading false information and manipulating public opinion, and illegal involvement by public officials and organizations. They also plan to respond strictly by actively cracking down and thoroughly investigating these crimes.

Furthermore, to prevent human rights violations or legal controversies during the investigation process, they agreed to guarantee the participation rights of the parties involved and to comply with procedures throughout the entire investigation process. The cooperation system among related agencies will also be strengthened to actively collaborate from the early stages of responding to election-related crimes.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office announced that it has organized a "Special Investigation Team for Election Crimes," led by Kim Kyung-geun, head of the Public Investigation Division 2, and will maintain a non-regular duty system until December 1 of this year, when the statute of limitations for local election prosecutions expires. Considering the spread of COVID-19, only seven officials from the prosecution, police, and election commission attended the meeting.