Special counsel to launch probe into 12 election-management allegations in South Korea

A special counsel team will begin investigating 12 allegations involving South Korea’s National Election Commission, including a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. The team, led by special counsel Lee Tae-han, will open its office in Seoul’s Seocho district on July 7.

The investigation is expected to draw on case files and evidence transferred on July 2 by a joint police and prosecution task force formed to establish the facts surrounding alleged violations of voting rights. The special counsel can operate for up to 150 days.

The allegations include the ballot shortage, a reduction in the minimum required volume of printed ballots from 60% to 50%, false entries for the number of voters, overseas trips described as improper, improper hiring and preferential treatment in private contracts.

The team plans to divide the allegations among its deputy special counsels. President Lee Jae Myung appointed Park Hyuk, Kim Eun-jung, Kim Sang-chun, Kwon Geun-hwan and Kim Jin-woo as deputy special counsels. The supplied report identifies Park as a former prosecutor who served at the Seoul and Changwon district prosecutors’ offices, and Kim Eun-jung as a former prosecutor who served at the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office.