[Anchor]

The special counsel team investigating the shortage of ballot papers during the June 3 local elections has entered the Handball Gymnasium at Olympic Park to verify the ballots. The official verification process was delayed as a conflict arose between the special counsel team and some observers over restrictions on filming during the verification process.

Reporter Shin Yong-il has the details.

[Reporter]

Police control the roads as officials from the special counsel team file into the building.

Special Counsel Lee Tae-han and other officials entered the Handball Gymnasium at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, starting at 8:30 a.m. today (October 28).

This marks an on-site verification of the ballot-counting station where the ballot shortage occurred, taking place 147 days after the June 3 local elections.

About 100 people, including a parliament-selected observation group and lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, along with some 50 journalists, attended today's verification. However, ahead of the official procedure, the special counsel team banned photography entirely, prompting protests from People Power Party lawmakers and some observers, which pushed the start of the actual verification back to nearly noon.

The 110 special counsel staff members and some 500 National Election Commission officials deployed for this verification plan to check the quantity and condition of approximately 2.47 million ballot papers from Songpa-gu stored inside the stadium to determine if there were any discrepancies in the number of ballots or signs of forgery.

They also plan to conduct secondary precision appraisals if abnormal ballots are discovered, and examine the possibility of hacking in equipment such as ballot sorters.

Prior to the on-site verification, Special Counsel Lee Tae-han stated, "I sincerely hope that this verification and investigation will serve as an opportunity to restore public trust in the election system."

Meanwhile, the day before the on-site verification, the special counsel team conducted a search and seizure at the Olympic Park location for the first time since the special counsel's launch.

The warrant for the search and seizure listed former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak as a suspect on charges of dereliction of duty.

(Camera Reporter: Kim Nam-sung | Video Editing: Lee Sang-min)