Lee Taehan, NEC Special Prosecutor, Pays Courtesy Call on MCIO... "Requests 10 Investigators"

Forensic examination of NEC servers has been ongoing for over a month
"The investigation is broad in scope, and specialized personnel are in short supply"
Plans to request investigative support for upcoming search-and-seizure operations

Lee Taehan, the special prosecutor investigating the shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections and other allegations, paid a courtesy call on the Major Crimes Investigation Office (MCIO) and requested that investigators be assigned to his team.

Lee told reporters outside the MCIO headquarters at around 2:50 p.m. on October 23 that he planned to ask MCIO Chief Kim Jiyong to assign 10 personnel to the special prosecutor's team. Saying that the team was severely short of investigators, Lee explained that he had visited "to seek the MCIO's help." He added that "the scope of the special prosecutor's investigation is quite broad" and that "basic investigative work is taking considerable time, including the forensic examination of the National Election Commission's election management system servers, which has been ongoing for more than a month."

Lee Taehan, a special prosecutor investigating the National Election Commission, answers reporters' questions after visiting the Seoul Serious Crime Investigation Agency on the 3rd. Yonhap News Agency

Lee said he was well aware of the MCIO's own staffing shortage, but added that the special prosecutor's investigation period was limited and that allegations involving the National Election Commission needed to be verified. He said the team had requested personnel specializing in forensics, particularly database analysis, because it was "severely short of forensic investigators." He added that the team planned to seek support from the MCIO's highly skilled forensic personnel as needed during upcoming major search-and-seizure operations.

After entering the MCIO building, Lee referred to the National Election Commission employee who died by suicide after being investigated by the special prosecutor's team and said, "I offer my condolences to the deceased, who passed away during the investigation." Asked about allegations of coercive questioning, he declined to comment, saying, "We explained the special prosecutor's position in detail in a notice to the media this morning." Earlier that morning, the special prosecutor's team issued a statement saying the deceased suspect had not been subjected to coercive questioning. It said that the suspect's note "indicated that, on the contrary, the person did not resent the special prosecutor investigating the National Election Commission, and also pointed out problems within the commission."

Earlier, an employee in their 40s from the National Election Commission was found dead in an apartment on the morning of October 21. The day before their death, the employee appeared before the special prosecutor's team as a suspect and was questioned in the presence of a lawyer. Attorney Park Hyunjeong of Dodam Law Firm, who attended the questioning, also claimed that the employee had faced pressure and coercion during the investigation and that there had been shortcomings in the preparation of the suspect interrogation record.

The special prosecutor's team is investigating 12 allegations, including the shortage of ballots during the local elections, manipulation of voting statistics, junket trips by National Election Commission officials, hiring and promotion favoritism, preferential treatment in sole-source contracts, and collusion with vendors.

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