Court Demands Election Commission Confirm Disposal of 'Jamsil Ballot Box'

The court has decided to verify the circumstances surrounding the disposal of a ballot box from Jamsil 7-dong Polling Station No. 2, which was labeled with "1,900 printed ballots," by the Songpa-gu Election Commission.
Judge Kim Ji-yeon of the 51st Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court partially granted an additional evidence preservation request filed yesterday by Kim Jeong-cheol, a Supreme Council member of the Reform Party who ran as a candidate for Seoul Mayor, today (June 12).
The court ordered the Songpa-gu Election Commission to disclose information regarding the waste disposal company that received the ballot box in question, the date and time of its disposal, and its storage location had it not been destroyed.
The court also ordered the submission of CCTV footage showing the moment the ballot box was removed from the polling station.
The ballot box, which was previously subject to a court preservation order, was spotted at Jamsil 7-dong Polling Station No. 2, where a ballot shortage occurred. However, it was not present when Judge Kim visited the site for an on-site inspection the day before yesterday (June 10).
The Songpa-gu Election Commission subsequently sparked controversy by stating that it had handed the ballot box over to a waste disposal company around noon on the 9th, five and a half hours before the court's preservation order was issued.
In response, Supreme Council member Kim filed a new request for evidence preservation yesterday to secure information on the disposal process, which was granted in just one day.
However, the request to preserve ballots and ballot boxes at the Jamsil counting center, located at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium, was rejected again.
The court determined that the ballots and ballot boxes at the counting center were not necessary to substantiate Kim's claim that the election was poorly managed due to a shortage of ballots.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.