Fact-finding committee to launch Wednesday
More polling stations have been found to have run short of ballots during the June 3 local elections, and additional sites where voting was temporarily suspended have also come to light.
The National Election Commission said Monday that 140 of the country's 14,288 polling stations had received extra ballots after shortfalls were anticipated. Those 140 stations were sites where the commission dispatched additional ballots to make up for the deficit.
The figure is 73 more than the commission reported in its initial findings released June 5. By region, the affected stations were in Seoul (53), Gyeonggi Province (36), Incheon (18), Busan (9), Daegu (7), South Gyeongsang Province (5), South Jeolla Province (4), Ulsan (3), Gangwon Province (2), and North Chungcheong Province, North Jeolla Province and North Gyeongsang Province (one each).
The number of polling stations where voting was briefly halted and then resumed due to ballot shortages also rose by four, to 26.
The commission plans to run a fact-finding committee on the ballot shortage from Wednesday through June 19 to determine the cause and assign responsibility.
The committee comprises six outside members recommended by civic groups, the legal community, the press and academia. Attorney Jo Hyeon-uk, a former president of the Korean Women Lawyers Association, will serve as chairperson.
The committee will investigate the full process of ballot printing, allocation and supply management. It will also assess the appropriateness of polling station operations, initial response measures and reporting procedures following the shortages.
In addition, the committee plans to probe whether further polling stations experienced ballot shortages beyond those already identified.
Meanwhile, the commission said standing commissioner Wi Cheol-hwan will serve as acting chairman after Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de notified the body Monday that he was revoking the appointment of NEC Chairman Noh Tae-ak.
The resignation of Secretary General Heo Cheol-hun was also accepted, with Deputy Secretary General Kang Dong-wan stepping in as acting secretary general. The commission also decided to relieve its election policy bureau chief and first election bureau chief of their posts Tuesday.
20ki@heraldcorp.com
