Rival Parties Agree to 45-Day Parliamentary Probe into Election Commission; Plan to Be Processed on June 18

A parliamentary investigation will be conducted for 45 days regarding the ballot shortage incident that occurred during the June 3 local elections.
To this end, the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to form a special committee for the investigation with an equal number of members from both sides, with the People Power Party to chair the committee.
Cheon Jun-ho, senior deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Seung-soo, senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, agreed on June 16 to process the investigation plan, which includes these details, at the plenary session on June 18.
Following a meeting with Kim at the office of the Steering Committee chairman today, Cheon stated, "We agreed to proceed with the parliamentary investigation to swiftly uncover the truth regarding the infringement of citizens' voting rights caused by the ballot shortage and to establish an institutional foundation for a major reform of the National Election Commission."
The official title of the investigation is the "Parliamentary Investigation into the Truth of Infringement of Citizens' Voting Rights, Including the Ballot Shortage, and Election Management," and the target institutions for the probe are the National Election Commission and its regional offices.
The special committee will consist of 9 members from the Democratic Party, 7 from the People Power Party, and 2 from minor parties, with an initial investigation period of 45 days, which may be extended if necessary.
Kim explained, "Since this is a matter of public interest where there is no significant disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties, we decided on an equal number of members. We initially set the investigation period at 45 days with the intention of proceeding as quickly as possible," adding, "We have agreed to extend it if further investigation is required."
He further noted, "Regarding the summoning of witnesses, both parties have agreed to actively cooperate in calling the Minister of the Interior and Safety, relevant officials from the ministry, and officials from the city, county, and district offices where the ballot shortage occurred."
He also emphasized, "We have reached a consensus to allow for a thorough investigation of the relevant institutions without any restrictions."
Meanwhile, the rival parties also discussed the issue of forming the standing committees on the same day but reaffirmed their differences in position.
Cheon added, "We believe the Democratic Party should chair the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and we also maintain that we should take charge of economic standing committees to fulfill our responsibility for state administration," stating, "We will do our best to ensure the formation of the committees is completed by the plenary session on June 18."
Kim said, "Considering the precedent where the majority party took the Speaker position and the opposition party took the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, we have strongly expressed that the opposition party should chair the Legislation and Judiciary Committee." He added, "Shouldn't the opposition party also take the chairs of economic-related standing committees to ensure checks and balances and pass bills that will be helpful to the public?"
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.