Election Commission Investigation Committee Holds Second Agency Report... Ruling and Opposition Parties United in Criticizing "Inadequate Response"

Ruling and Opposition Lawmakers Criticize Inadequate Submission of Materials by Election Commission
All but Four of 60 Witnesses, Including Noh Taeak and Yoon Hojoong, Attend Session

The Special Committee on a National Investigation for Truth-finding on the Lack of Ballots in the June 3 Local Elections and for Election Commission Reform held its second agency report session at the National Assembly, intensively questioning the responsible agencies. Lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties continued their inquiries to the Election Commission and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety regarding the reporting system at the time, the decision-making process, and the adequacy of on-site responses.

The special committee held the second agency report session at the National Assembly on the morning of July 1, 2026, eight days after the first report. On this day, the committee criticized then-Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-joong, former National Election Commission Chairperson Noh Tae-ak, Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Park Jung-bo, and others for poor responses during the ballot shortage incident, focusing on the reporting structure, decision-making process, and inter-agency responses.

Wi Cheolhwan, Acting Chair of the National Election Commission, is speaking at the plenary session of the special committee for the national investigation on the shortage of ballots and other issues related to the infringement of the people's right to vote and election management reform held at the National Assembly on June 23, 2026. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Previously, during the first agency report, 16 witnesses, including members of the central election commission and the heads of the election commissions for Seoul and Songpa District, failed to appear, facing strong protests from committee members. After being criticized for "disregarding the public," they later appeared and issued apologies. For this second session, all but four of the 60 witnesses selected by both parties were in attendance.

Yoon Sanghyun, Chairman of the special committee, stated, "We will once again closely examine the reporting system and the issue of responsibility within the Election Commission that were raised at the last meeting, and thoroughly investigate the causes of the ballot shortage incident and the response process."

During the meeting, measures for accident prevention and maintaining order were also discussed in preparation for the on-site investigation scheduled for July 2 at the Songpa District Election Commission and the Olympic Park area. Committee members coordinated their opinions on the extent of police deployment to secure access roads around Olympic Park and on response measures to minimize controversy over excessive use of public authority.

The issue of the Election Commission’s inadequate submission of materials was also raised at the meeting. Seo Beomsoo, a committee secretary from the People Power Party, criticized, "We requested materials from the Election Commission, but they sent the documents after working hours, and when we try to contact them, only an answering machine picks up. It seems they still do not fully grasp the seriousness of the situation."

Yoon Kunyoung, a committee secretary from the Democratic Party, also commented, "During the first report, the witnesses failed to appear, and now even the submission of materials is inadequate. Given the questionable reliability of the submitted documents, we must make strong criticisms and hold those responsible accountable."

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