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

A court has decided to demand that the Songpa-gu Election Commission clarify the circumstances surrounding the disposal of a ballot storage box from the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station, which was labeled as containing "1,900 printed ballots."

Judge Kim Ji-yeon of the 51st Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court partially granted an additional request for evidence preservation filed yesterday by Kim Jung-chul, a Supreme Council member of the Reform Party who was a candidate for Seoul Mayor, on Friday, June 12.

The court ordered the Songpa-gu Election Commission to disclose information regarding the waste disposal company to which the ballot box in question was handed over, as well as the date and time of its disposal.

The court also ordered the commission to reveal the current location of the box if it has not yet been disposed of.

Furthermore, the court requested the submission of closed-circuit (CCTV) footage showing the moment the storage box was removed from the polling station.

The storage box, which was previously subject to a preservation order issued by the court, had been spotted at the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station, where a shortage of ballots occurred.

However, when Judge Kim visited the polling station for an on-site inspection on June 10, the box was not there.

The Songpa-gu Election Commission subsequently sparked controversy by stating that it had handed the storage box over to a waste disposal company around noon on June 9, 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, seeking information on the details of the disposal.

The court granted this request in just one day.

However, the request to preserve ballots and ballot boxes inside the Jamsil vote-counting station at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium was rejected again.

The court determined that the ballots and ballot boxes inside the counting station were not necessary to prove Kim's claim that the election was poorly managed due to a shortage of ballots.

In response, Kim issued a press release stating, "We plan to re-file the request for evidence preservation regarding the ballots stored at the counting station based on changed circumstances, and we will uncover the full extent of this administrative incompetence to the end."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.