[Anchor]

It appears that 2.47 million ballots currently sealed at the Olympic Park in Jamsil will soon undergo public verification. The National Election Commission (NEC) pledged to conduct a re-verification during a parliamentary investigation, and both ruling and opposition parties have agreed to the process.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The second on-site investigation by the National Assembly's special committee on the ballot shortage incident was held at the National Election Commission.

The NEC stated that it is prepared to allow public verification of the Songpa-gu ballots currently stored at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium.

[Kang Dong-wan / Acting Secretary-General, NEC: If the special committee decides on a timeline, we will comply. We are of the opinion that it should be done as soon as possible.]

While most members of the special committee agreed on the need for a swift public verification,

[Yoon Sang-hyun / Chairperson, National Assembly Special Committee: To regain public trust, we must go through a recount process.]

The Democratic Party demanded that the NEC establish a contingency plan in case the ballot count differs after the verification.

[Kim Nam-hee / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The number of ballots could be inconsistent. If the count from the verification differs from the election tally sheet, what will you do next?]

Meanwhile, the People Power Party requested that the scope of the verification be expanded to include the judgment of valid and invalid votes.

[Choi Bo-yoon / People Power Party Lawmaker: I request that you reconsider your stance that the judgment of valid or invalid votes should be left strictly to legal election disputes.]

There are a total of 2.47 million ballots from Songpa-gu stored at the Olympic Park.

The NEC reported a plan to spend 50 million won to mobilize 440 people to conduct a manual count over nine hours, with the verification process open to the special committee, candidate-recommended observers, and the media.

However, the NEC emphasized that the purpose of this re-verification is to prove that the stored ballots are identical to those cast on the day of the June 3 local elections and have not been tampered with, noting that it carries no legal effect such as changing the validity of votes or the election results.

Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party, stated that they would push for the recount and manual counting through bipartisan consultation. Yoon Sang-hyun, the special committee chair from the People Power Party, also said that the location and method of the recount would be discussed and agreed upon by both ruling and opposition parties.

(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: Lee Seung-hee | Design: Jang Chae-woo, Park Tae-young)