On the 13th, prosecutors convened election-dedicated Director General prosecutors from 60 district prosecutors' offices and branches nationwide to discuss responses to election crimes related to the June 3 local elections.
Acting Prosecutor General Ku Ja-hyun said in opening remarks that "election cases are issues in which the interests of multiple parties clash more sharply than in any other case," adding, "Securing fairness and political neutrality is more important than anything else."
At the meeting chaired by the Director General of the Public Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, presentations focused on negative campaigning and vote buying, which account for the largest share of election crimes. Participants jointly reviewed key legal principles at issue, including the scope of liability for the offense of publishing false information in violation of disclosure requirements such as for deepfake videos, and differences in elements of the offense by actor for donation activities, and shared concrete examples including case law.
In addition, they specifically analyzed the status of bookings and dispositions in past local elections, the status of bookings by crime type, the status of bookings by investigative lead, and the occurrence of offenses in this local election, discussed response plans, and checked preparedness systems.
Based on the discussions at this meeting, the prosecution plans to focus investigative resources on major election crimes such as negative campaigning, vote buying, civil servants' interference in elections, and election-related violence through an election-dedicated investigative team of about 600 people.
For key matters, the lead prosecutor will be designated as a Director General prosecutor to apply the current "standards for handling election cases" more strictly. Considering the particularity of election cases in which a confirmed sentence such as a fine of 1 million won or more results in invalidation of the election, officials said they will actively identify sentencing factors for offenders with egregious culpability so that penalties commensurate with the crimes can be imposed.
The prosecution said it "will make every effort to ensure prompt and thorough handling of election cases subject to a short statute of limitations through organic cooperation with related agencies, the National Election Commission and the police."