Special Counsel Investigating Election Commission Raids Olympic Park Ahead of Ballot Verification Tomorrow

[Anchor]

The special counsel investigating various allegations surrounding the National Election Commission (NEC) has decided to verify ballots stored at the Handball Gymnasium in Olympic Park tomorrow (October 28). Ahead of the verification, the special counsel launched a raid today to secure election documents and CCTV footage stored at the gymnasium.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the details.

[Reporter]

The special counsel investigating the ballot shortage incident during the June 3 local elections has launched a raid on Olympic Park in Seoul.

This morning, the special counsel dispatched prosecutors and investigators to the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, which was used as a vote-counting center, to execute search and seizure warrants for various documents and CCTV footage stored inside the facility.

This marks the first raid conducted on the Olympic Park vote-counting center since the special counsel team was launched last September.

The special counsel will also conduct an on-site voluntary verification at Olympic Park tomorrow.

Authorities plan to verify approximately 2.47 million ballots from Songpa-gu and other stored items kept at the vote-counting center to check for any discrepancies in the number of ballots and whether any were forged.

If abnormal ballots are discovered after checking the ballot quantities and printing conditions, the plan is to conduct a secondary, detailed forensic examination.

In addition, authorities plan to review CCTV footage from the vote-counting center to check for any unauthorized external intrusions and whether equipment used, such as ballot sorters, was hacked.

Tomorrow's verification will mobilize all available personnel, including 110 members of the special counsel team, along with approximately 500 personnel from the National Forensic Service and the Election Commission to verify ballot counts.

Furthermore, 48 riot police units and 300 detectives will be deployed to the site to maintain public order.

However, authorities stated that because this verification is part of investigative activities and not a recount, it will not, in principle, affect the determination of elected officials or vote counts.

(Camera Reporter: Lee Sang-hak, Video Editor: So Ji-hye)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.