Prosecutors Warn of "Strict Punishment After Fact-Finding" for Illegal Election Interference... Fallout from Blue House Election Interference Allegations

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is delivering a greeting at the meeting of all district prosecutors and election-related deputy chief prosecutors held at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution has decided to strictly punish any illegal external interference in the 21st National Assembly election scheduled for April. This policy has drawn more attention as the prosecution continues to investigate allegations of the Blue House's directive investigation and interference in the Ulsan local election.

On the 10th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office held a "Meeting of Chiefs of District Prosecutors' Offices and Heads of Election Departments" attended by chiefs of 18 district prosecutors' offices nationwide and heads of election departments from each office. About 80 prosecutors attended to discuss countermeasures against election-related crimes in the upcoming general election.

The prosecution has designated bribery, public opinion manipulation, and illegal involvement by public officials and organizations as the "three major focus areas for crackdown" in this general election.

In particular, acts such as election interference and mobilization by public officials, illegal private organizations, and the establishment and mobilization of similar institutions will be actively investigated and strictly punished. The prosecution stated it will focus on cracking down on public officials using their positions to influence elections and the establishment of "external organizations" to support specific candidates' election.

Regarding bribery, with the implementation of the semi-proportional representation system, an increase in participating parties, redistricting, and intensified intra-party nomination competition, the prosecution expects an increase in incentives for vote-buying. Therefore, it will focus on cracking down on activities such as bribery and collusion related to candidate unification, election brokers mobilizing private organizations due to redistricting, and provision of money related to party candidate recommendations.

Concerning public opinion manipulation, the prosecution pledged to respond swiftly and strictly to manipulation in cyberspace to prevent distortion of the people's choice.

Furthermore, it plans to crack down on baseless allegations during primary and general election processes, opinion polls targeting samples favorable to specific candidates, fake news in cyberspace, and public opinion manipulation.

Additionally, each office will form and operate a dedicated election investigation team. They will maintain an emergency work system until the statute of limitations expires (October 15) and utilize all investigative capabilities of the office.

Cases reported by the National Election Commission and major crackdown targets will, in principle, be handled through direct investigation, actively employing scientific investigation techniques such as account tracing, digital forensics, fingerprint analysis, and location tracking. There is also a plan for investigating prosecutors to be directly involved in trials.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol urged before the meeting on the morning of the same day, "Please remember that each prosecutor is a guardian of the Constitution and respond strictly and firmly to election crimes with thoroughness."

He added, "A politically biased prosecutor is as corrupt as a corrupt person," and emphasized, "Please be careful with all words and conduct throughout the investigation initiation, progress, and handling during the election period to avoid any suspicion of fairness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.