Election Management Controversy Leads to Criminal Charges in South Korea

On June 1, 2025, a civic group known as the Citizens' Livelihood Countermeasure Committee filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office against over ten officials, including the chair of the Seoul Election Commission, Oh Min-seok, and the secretary general, Kim Beom-jin. This action follows allegations of mismanagement during the early voting process for the 21st presidential election, which took place from May 29 to 30.

The complaint also names the heads of election commissions from Gangnam and Seodaemun districts, as well as officials from Gyeonggi Province, including Kim Se-yoon, the chair of the Gyeonggi Election Commission. The chair of the National Election Commission, Noh Tae-ak, who is also a Supreme Court Justice, is implicated as well.

The controversy was sparked by incidents such as the 'proxy voting' case at the Daechi 2-dong polling station in Gangnam, where election officials allegedly allowed voters to leave with their ballots to eat outside. Additionally, ballots from the 22nd general election were discovered in the ballot boxes at polling stations in Bucheon and Gimpo.

The Citizens' Livelihood Countermeasure Committee argues that these incidents occurred due to negligence in oversight by the election commission. They also criticized the commission for dismissing a report from an election observer in Yongin, who claimed that a ballot marked for Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate, was found in a return envelope, labeling the report as a 'staged act.'

On the same day, the committee had previously reported the incident of a voter taking their ballot outside during early voting in the old Sinchon-dong polling station, leading to further allegations of dereliction of duty against Noh, Kim Yong-bin, and Heo Cheol-hoon, the deputy secretary general, to the Southern District Prosecutors' Office.