Former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak drinks water during the first hearing of the National Assembly's special parliamentary investigation committee on the ballot shortage during the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections and related violations of citizens' voting rights, held at the National Assembly on July 14. [Yonhap]
Former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak drinks water during the first hearing of the National Assembly's special parliamentary investigation committee on the ballot shortage during the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections and related violations of citizens' voting rights, held at the National Assembly on July 14. [Yonhap]

The joint police-prosecution investigation unit probing violations of citizens' voting rights during the June 3 local elections is conducting its first suspect interrogation since its launch.

The unit, headed by Kim Tae-hun, summoned the secretary-general of the Gwangjin-gu branch of the National Election Commission on Wednesday for questioning as a suspect in connection with the ballot shortage. The unit had previously called officials from the Seoul Metropolitan NEC and district-level NEC offices as witnesses, but Wednesday marks the start of formal suspect-level interrogations. Also summoned Wednesday as witnesses are an official from the Songpa-gu NEC and the head of a company that disposed of ballot storage boxes.

The unit is also examining how the minimum ballot printing threshold was reduced from 60 percent to 50 percent. Officials from the Korea Institute of Public Administration who handled a related research contract, members of the NEC's procedural improvement TF, and the lead researcher on the contract have been called in as witnesses.

Separately, the unit is investigating allegations — transferred from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office — that the NEC submitted a falsified budget request to the government that omitted hiring irregularities flagged by the Board of Audit and Inspection.

The unit is also continuing, for a third consecutive day, the execution of a search and seizure warrant at the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on suspicion of embezzlement in connection with alleged junket trips taken by former NEC Chairman Noh Tae-ak and NEC staff. The searches began Monday and continued Tuesday.

During the searches, investigators are said to have found evidence suggesting that Noh left for Denmark and Sweden last November — on a 10-day, eight-night trip accompanied by his spouse — earlier than the originally scheduled departure date. However, the unit has determined that his spouse returned home early due to separate personal circumstances.

The People Power Party's special media committee and media legal team filed a complaint with the unit alleging that Noh took junket trips with his spouse to Australia and New Zealand in December 2022, Germany and Estonia in November 2024, and Denmark and Sweden in November 2025. Noh is reported to have returned 47 million won ($31,700) in travel expenses on Monday after the controversy erupted.

The People Power Party also filed an embezzlement complaint with the unit over allegations that unidentified NEC civil servants took junket trips to the Maldives, Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu, and Florence and Venice. The party said a total of 466 NEC employees made 107 overseas trips between 2022 and June 2026, spending about 2.4 billion won in public funds.


bell@heraldcorp.com