A joint investigative task force of prosecutors and police probing violations of citizens' voting rights during the June 3 local elections has found evidence that a dedicated civil servant was assigned to accompany the spouse of Noh Tae-ak, former chairman of the National Election Commission, during his overseas trips, which are under scrutiny as potentially leisure-driven junkets.
The task force, led by Kim Tae-hun, obtained the information through recent witness interviews with NEC officials, confirming that the commission had separately assigned a civil servant to attend to Noh's spouse during his foreign trips.
Investigators suspect the assigned civil servant, tasked with accompanying the spouse on unofficial tourism activities, was unable to attend official events as a result. The task force is examining whether the employee was recorded in official documents as having attended those events, and is looking into possible charges of falsifying official records.
Noh took three overseas trips with his spouse during his tenure: an eight-night, nine-day trip to Australia and New Zealand in December 2022, a seven-night, nine-day trip to Germany and Estonia in November 2024, and an eight-night, 10-day trip to Denmark and Sweden in November last year.
Earlier, the People Power Party's special media committee and media legal team filed a complaint with the task force in June, alleging that Noh had taken leisure-driven overseas trips with his spouse and seeking charges including embezzlement. The PPP also filed a separate complaint over similar allegations involving other NEC civil servants.
On July 20, the task force raided the NEC's headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, seizing materials related to the alleged junkets by Noh and other NEC staff. Three days later, investigators summoned a former aide to Noh as a witness. Additional NEC officials were subsequently called in for questioning.
On Thursday, the task force plans to question one former NEC official as a witness in connection with the overseas trip allegations, and separately summon a Gyeonggi Province NEC official over suspected voter turnout manipulation.
The task force is also investigating indications that officials from both the NEC and the Gyeonggi Province NEC falsified voter turnout figures during the June 3 local elections. On July 23, investigators raided officials from both bodies on charges of falsifying electronic public records and obstructing the execution of official duties.
Investigators have recently detected signs of voter turnout manipulation at the autonomous district level in Seoul as well. On Wednesday, the task force summoned one Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission official for questioning as a witness.
In connection with the ballot shortage during the local elections, the task force is said to have obtained an email in which the NEC instructed officials that errors in voter counts should not be corrected and that figures could be adjusted when reporting turnout.
The task force suspects the NEC issued manipulation directives. On Wednesday, investigators summoned the head of the elections division at the Gwangjin-gu Election Commission in Seoul as a suspect on charges of dereliction of duty.
bell@heraldcorp.com
