6·3 local elections are under investigation by Lee Tae-han, the special prosecutor for the Election Commission, who plans to receive some personnel from the prosecution and police this week to begin preparations for the investigation. The special prosecutor also intends to request recommendations for special prosecutor assistants from the Blue House.
On the morning of August 25, during a visit to the Seoul Bar Association in Seocho-gu, Lee told reporters, "A few prosecutors are expected to arrive tomorrow or the day after, and some from the National Police Agency will also come. I believe we will have sufficient personnel for the initial preparations this week."
He added, "The Korean Bar Association will send a carefully selected list of candidates for special prosecutor assistants to our office this morning. After finalizing the selection process in the afternoon, we plan to send a list of 10 names to the presidential office today."
Lee met with Seoul Bar Association President Cho Soon-yeol to discuss the recruitment of special investigators. He explained, "There is a significant demand for special investigators, and I came to request that capable investigators be recruited."
The special prosecutor has also requested the transfer of investigation records from the joint investigation team of the prosecution and police. He mentioned, "I have been informed that the joint investigation records are organized and consist of several pages. Simply receiving the records for review would be quite inefficient and time-consuming, so I requested that they be organized by topic and sent in a summarized format."
Additionally, the special prosecutor is working to participate in the on-site verification of the Olympic Park ballot counting center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, conducted by the National Assembly's Special Committee on National Investigation. Although the ruling and opposition parties agreed to extend the committee's activities by 30 days and planned to conduct an on-site verification of the ballot recount at the Olympic Park on August 18, this was ultimately canceled.
In response to related questions, Lee stated, "We will prepare to participate in the on-site verification as soon as we receive contact from the National Assembly. We are thoroughly reviewing what the special prosecutor needs to do, the procedures involved, and the legal basis for our actions."
The special prosecutor had previously established a temporary office in the The Base Seocho building in Seocho-dong, where operations began in the afternoon of the same day. The office will occupy nine floors from the 7th to the 15th of the 15-story building.
The special prosecutor's team can consist of up to 165 members, including 20 dispatched prosecutors, 70 special investigators, and 70 dispatched public officials. Investigations must be completed within 90 days from the day after the maximum 20-day preparation period expires. If the investigations are not completed within this timeframe, extensions of 30 days each can be granted twice with the president's approval.
The investigation targets include allegations of violations of voting rights due to a shortage of ballots, manipulation of election statistics such as voter turnout, mismanagement of essential election materials like ballot storage boxes, and various corruption allegations involving current and former members and staff of the Election Commission, among other related cases.
On the morning of August 25, during a visit to the Seoul Bar Association in Seocho-gu, Lee told reporters, "A few prosecutors are expected to arrive tomorrow or the day after, and some from the National Police Agency will also come. I believe we will have sufficient personnel for the initial preparations this week."
He added, "The Korean Bar Association will send a carefully selected list of candidates for special prosecutor assistants to our office this morning. After finalizing the selection process in the afternoon, we plan to send a list of 10 names to the presidential office today."
Lee met with Seoul Bar Association President Cho Soon-yeol to discuss the recruitment of special investigators. He explained, "There is a significant demand for special investigators, and I came to request that capable investigators be recruited."
The special prosecutor has also requested the transfer of investigation records from the joint investigation team of the prosecution and police. He mentioned, "I have been informed that the joint investigation records are organized and consist of several pages. Simply receiving the records for review would be quite inefficient and time-consuming, so I requested that they be organized by topic and sent in a summarized format."
Additionally, the special prosecutor is working to participate in the on-site verification of the Olympic Park ballot counting center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, conducted by the National Assembly's Special Committee on National Investigation. Although the ruling and opposition parties agreed to extend the committee's activities by 30 days and planned to conduct an on-site verification of the ballot recount at the Olympic Park on August 18, this was ultimately canceled.
In response to related questions, Lee stated, "We will prepare to participate in the on-site verification as soon as we receive contact from the National Assembly. We are thoroughly reviewing what the special prosecutor needs to do, the procedures involved, and the legal basis for our actions."
The special prosecutor had previously established a temporary office in the The Base Seocho building in Seocho-dong, where operations began in the afternoon of the same day. The office will occupy nine floors from the 7th to the 15th of the 15-story building.
The special prosecutor's team can consist of up to 165 members, including 20 dispatched prosecutors, 70 special investigators, and 70 dispatched public officials. Investigations must be completed within 90 days from the day after the maximum 20-day preparation period expires. If the investigations are not completed within this timeframe, extensions of 30 days each can be granted twice with the president's approval.
The investigation targets include allegations of violations of voting rights due to a shortage of ballots, manipulation of election statistics such as voter turnout, mismanagement of essential election materials like ballot storage boxes, and various corruption allegations involving current and former members and staff of the Election Commission, among other related cases.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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