With less than two months left until the June 3 local elections, prosecutors are going all out to respond to election crime investigations. Prosecutors have even formed a dedicated task force of 600 people, but there are concerns that the burden of handling cases could grow compared with previous years, as the short statute of limitations for election crimes coincides with the organizational overhaul stemming from the abolition of the Prosecution Service in October.
◇ Statute of limitations is 6 months... last-minute investigations and indictments unavoidable
According to legal sources on the 15th, prosecutors have formed an approximately 600-member "election-dedicated task force" to respond to election crimes. Acting Prosecutor General Gu Jahyeon recently convened a meeting of Directors General in charge of the election task force and said, "This local election is the first nationwide vote since the last presidential election, so we need to concentrate the prosecution's capabilities in response."
The problem is that investigating election crime cases is not easy. The statute of limitations for election crimes is six months. Based on the June 3 local elections, the statute of limitations runs until Nov. 29. When the Public Official Election Act was enacted in March 1994, a special short statute of limitations was introduced to promote the legal stability of the winner. Only when a public official commits an election crime by using official duties or position is the statute of limitations exceptionally 10 years.
This is why so-called "cramming-style investigations and indictments" become controversial every election. Because the statute of limitations is short, it is not uncommon for police to transfer thousands of cases to prosecutors before the deadline.
The June 2022 8th local elections were a prime example. At that time, the prosecution's election crime case processing rate stood at 25.7% 90 days before the statute of limitations expired, 31.6% at 60 days, and 44.1% at 30 days, reaching only 58.1% at 15 days before. That meant the remaining cases had to be processed in 15 days.
From the prosecution's perspective, cases need to be handed over at least two months before the statute of limitations to allow smooth indictments. But if cases come over right before the deadline, there is inevitably too little time to properly review them. This is why people on the ground say that "because of the short statute of limitations, investigators have to grind themselves down at the end of election crime probes."
◇ Staffing is short, and the burden of organizational restructuring is growing
The burden continues even after cases are handed over. The types of election crimes have been changing rapidly. While vote-buying cases are decreasing, cases involving spreading false information and smear campaigns are on the rise.
According to the 2025 prosecution yearbook, those accused of spreading false information or smear campaigning increased from 819 in the 21st general election in 2020 to 1,107 in the 22nd general election in 2024. Their share of all election offenders also expanded from 25.7% to 35.7%.
The spread of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is another variable. AI-based fake videos and images, such as deepfakes, have become easy to produce and disseminate, and the difficulty of investigations has greatly increased, including identifying creators, tracing the initial distributors, and determining collusion.
Internal conditions at the prosecution are also challenging. With personnel shortages due to special counsel secondments and a string of resignations, backlogged cases have exceeded 120,000. On the front lines, there are reports of a single prosecutor handling 500 to 600 cases.
On top of that, the timing of election crime investigations overlaps with the abolition of the Prosecution Service in October and its transition to the Public Prosecution Office, adding to the burden. There are concerns that in the process of transferring investigative functions to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and reorganizing the organization, practical disruptions could arise in handling cases.
An attorney who previously served at a Seoul-area district prosecutors' office said, "Under the Public Prosecution Office Act, if the statute of limitations is imminent, investigations in progress can be completed within 90 days from the law's effective date," but noted, "Still, the overlap of the organizational restructuring and the statute of limitations for election crimes will make the case-handling burden heavy."