[Anchor]

The special counsel investigating the ballot shortage incident during the June 3 local elections has completed an on-site verification of 2.47 million ballots after about 12 hours. All ballots from the Songpa district, which had been stored at the Handball Gymnasium in Olympic Park, have been removed.

Reporter Shin Yong-il has the details.

[Reporter]

The special counsel's on-site verification of 2.47 million ballots stored at the Handball Gymnasium in Seoul's Olympic Park concluded after about 12 hours.

Special Counsel Lee Tae-han declared the end of the ballot verification at around 12:30 a.m. today (October 29).

[Lee Tae-han / Special Prosecutor for the Election Commission: Today, respecting objections raised by observers during the verification process, the special counsel voluntarily took possession of entire specific ballot boxes and selected a significant number of ballots deemed to require further analysis, which we plan to subject to precise appraisal and analysis later.]

He also stated that they would ensure no premature conclusions are drawn or suspicions dismissed regarding matters that have not yet been verified.

Observers from the People Power Party, including People Power Party leader Chang Dong-hyeok, raised objections to the removal, arguing that suspicions regarding the ballot tally had not been resolved, but they did not physically block the removal, allowing all 420 ballot boxes to be removed this morning.

Among them, 13 boxes containing ballots that were subject to objections are scheduled to be sent to the National Forensic Service.

The verification, which began 147 days after the June 3 local elections, involved 110 special counsel team members and about 500 National Election Commission staff.

Seated across 40 tables, they examined the ballots one by one to check quantities and whether they were forged.

The verification was originally scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. yesterday after admitting press and parliamentary observation groups, but faced friction even before starting over the permitted scope of filming.

In the end, the special counsel allowed filming by two broadcasting camera crews and two observers from the ruling and opposition parties, pushing the start of the verification back by about three hours to 11:49 a.m.

However, the special counsel stated that this verification was conducted as part of the investigation and is not a recount, meaning it will not affect the determination of successful candidates or vote counts.

(Camera reporting: Joo Yong-jin, Kim Nam-sung | Video editing: Yoon Tae-ho)