Chairperson Roh Tae-ak of the National Election Commission said on the 5th, regarding the shortage of ballot papers, "I will step down as chairperson of the National Election Commission, taking full responsibility."
Chairperson Roh held a press conference at the National Election Commission in Gwacheon that day and issued a public apology over the shortage of ballot papers that occurred at some polling stations in parts of Seoul during the local elections on the 3rd.
Chairperson Roh said, "We damaged the public's strong interest in and active expression of will for local autonomy shown through participation in voting by the ballot paper shortage," adding, "As chairperson of the National Election Commission, I feel devastation and an infinite sense of responsibility for undermining the public's trust in election management, which is leading to distrust in the electoral process."
Chairperson Roh said, "There is no excuse for an unacceptable incident that infringed on the people's precious right of suffrage," and added, "To ensure this never happens again, we will install a fact-finding committee as swiftly as possible to identify the fundamental causes, problems, and response process that led to the ballot paper shortage and to prepare improvement measures to prevent a recurrence, and we will disclose all results in detail."
Chairperson Roh said, "To ensure the fact-finding committee's activities are objective and thorough, all members of the committee will be composed of outside experts," and added, "We will faithfully comply with all procedures to confirm the election commission's responsibility for this incident, including a National Assembly-level parliamentary inquiry, and if there is anything we must be held accountable for afterward according to the results, we will not evade it."
Chairperson Roh said that Secretary General Hur Chul-hoon had offered to resign, and that he himself, taking full responsibility for all aspects of the incident, would step down as chairperson of the National Election Commission.