A joint prosecution-police task force investigating the ballot shortage during the June 3 nationwide local elections has begun securing additional personnel. As the probe expanded to cover the overall operations of the National Election Commission, the task force appears to be strengthening its investigative capacity by significantly bolstering its police staff.
The joint task force has decided to receive 13 additional police officers, according to legal circles Thursday. Police are currently conducting an internal recruitment process to dispatch the personnel.
Prosecutors earlier assigned four prosecutors to the task force, including Lim Hong-seok (40th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), chief prosecutor of the Tongyeong branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office. As a result, the task force's staff will nearly double from the previous 27 members (six prosecutors, six prosecution investigators and 15 police officers) to 44, just over a month after its launch. The task force was launched June 9, with Kim Tae-hoon (35th class), the third deputy chief prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and a prominent "public security expert," named as its chief.
"In addition to prosecutors under the third deputy chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, we have expanded the prosecutor pool by a total of four, including chief prosecutor Lim and two prosecutors returning from the special prosecutor team," a legal source familiar with prosecution affairs said. "As for police, the recruitment process is currently underway, and they are expected to join soon."
The staff increase is interpreted as a measure following the expansion of the task force's investigative scope beyond initial expectations. The task force was launched to determine the truth behind the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections, but it has now expanded its scope to the overall operations of the National Election Commission, including various budget executions and personnel management. Allegations surrounding a "junket-style business trip" taken by former National Election Commission Chairman Roh Tae-ak with his spouse are also among the targets of the investigation. President Lee Jae-myung also signaled his willingness to expand the probe at a Cabinet meeting on June 23, saying, "Problems that arose during the voting process are important, but there are also absurd cases such as indirect corruption. I hope all such problems are investigated if necessary."
With the additional personnel secured, the task force's investigation is also gaining momentum. On July 3, the task force summoned and questioned an election officer at the Songpa-gu Election Commission, two election commission members, and one official from the election countermeasures team of Songpa-gu's autonomous administration division as witnesses. It also plans to question one more official from the Songpa-gu Election Commission. In the course of the investigation, the task force plans to examine not only through what channels election commission officials became aware of the ballot shortage and how they reported it internally, but also the timing and circumstances of the decision to discard ballot boxes.
