DPK to Pursue Special Prosecutor as Official Party Line on Election Commission Incident: "Root Cause Investigation and Punishment of Those Responsible"

Jeong Jeomsik of the Opposition: "Welcome... The Special Prosecutor Must Be Recommended by the Opposition"

The Democratic Party of Korea has announced that it will push for the appointment of a special prosecutor as its official party stance in response to the Central Election Management Committee and related parties, which were responsible for the June 3 local election ballot paper shortage incident.

Byungdo Han, Acting Party Leader and Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on June 29, "Today, the Democratic Party will move forward with both institutional reforms and the pursuit of a special prosecutor as an official party position to thoroughly investigate this incident and punish those responsible."

Byungdo Han, Acting Party Leader and Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on June 29, 2026. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

Han continued, "The Democratic Party is accelerating election commission reforms to meet public expectations by swiftly launching a parliamentary investigation and establishing a reform task force for the election commission. Last week, the election commission reform task force announced fundamental reform measures, including the dissolution of the election commission through constitutional amendments, increasing the number of standing members, and introducing a confirmation hearing for the secretary general." He further emphasized, "There are no untouchable areas in election commission reform," adding, "The infringement of suffrage due to the ballot paper shortage is an unacceptable disaster that cannot be justified by any excuse."

In response, Jeong Jeom-sik, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, wrote on social media, "The Democratic Party has previously avoided accepting our proposal for a special prosecutor by giving various excuses, but I welcome their announcement to accept the special prosecutor proposal, even if it is at this point."

However, Floor Leader Jeong warned, "In the past, there have been many instances where the Democratic Party pretended to accept proposals, such as the Daejang-dong appeal withdrawal parliamentary investigation and special inspector nominations, only to let them quietly fade away. Especially if they attempt a face-saving special prosecutor in the same way they currently negotiate the composition of parliamentary committees—with just a single fax—disregarding the will of the opposition and the people, they will inevitably face public judgment."

He added, "I hope to see a special prosecutor investigation with no sanctuary. The foundation of such an investigation is the appointment of a special prosecutor recommended by the opposition."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.