Ahead of the Presidential and Local Elections, a War Against 'Fake News'... Police Intensify Investigation of Election Offenders

More Than Half of Detected Election Offenders Spread False Information
Local Elections with Many Candidates... Trend of Fake News Spreading
Over 1,700 Cases in 2018 Local Elections... Spreading Like Wildfire on SNS
Police Respond Swiftly and Strictly to '5 Major Election Crimes'

Opening ceremony of the Election Crime Investigation Situation Room at the National Police Agency. [Photo by National Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] With the 20th presidential election scheduled for March and the 8th nationwide local elections set for June, the police's war against 'fake news' is expected to intensify. As the trend of election-related offenses has shifted from past vote-buying and illegal mobilization to the spread of false information, or 'lying elections,' the police plan to conduct swift investigations to ensure election neutrality and fairness.

According to the police on the 15th, the National Police Agency established an 'Election Crime Investigation Situation Room' on the 11th and set up a 24-hour response system. The situation room will operate at 277 police stations nationwide until the local elections on June 1. During this period, the police will strengthen crime intelligence gathering and respond promptly and strictly to various illegal election-related activities.

The police's main crackdown targets are the so-called 'five major election crimes': ▲bribery ▲spreading false information ▲public officials' involvement in elections ▲election violence ▲illegal group mobilization. Since November last year, the police have formed a dedicated election crime investigation team to collect intelligence and conduct preliminary investigations and investigations before indictment for these crimes. As of the 10th of this month, 335 cases involving 517 people have been investigated for violations of the Public Official Election Act, with 43 individuals referred to the prosecution.

Various types of 'fake news' are also expected to run rampant in this year's elections. The signs have already been confirmed. Among the types of election offenders caught so far, spreading false information accounts for 287 people (55.5%), more than half. This is followed by bribery with 115 people and pre-election campaigning with 52 people.

Especially in local elections, where there are many candidates, there is a tendency for the spread of false information to increase as a form of negative campaigning. During the April 7 by-elections last year, the police conducted investigations on 171 election offenders, and excluding simple banner and poster vandalism cases (72 people), those involved in spreading false information or 'lying elections' accounted for the largest number at 45 people (26.3%). In the June 13, 2018 local elections, among 5,187 election law violators, 1,752 people (33.8%) were involved in spreading false information or defamation.

Similarly, during the April 15, 2020 general elections, among 1,350 election offenders caught by the police, spreading false information accounted for 317 people (23.5%), surpassing banner and poster vandalism (230 people), election violence such as candidate assault (116 people), and vote-buying through donations (109 people). This is evidence that fake news has become the dominant form of election crime.

Fake news produced to defame candidates or others ahead of elections spreads very rapidly to an unspecified large number of people, but correcting the facts inevitably takes time, making it a representative crime type that undermines election fairness. Such fake news often spreads uncontrollably through social networking services (SNS) and internet communities.

The police plan to strictly crack down on the dissemination of false information or defamation of candidates through fake news, SNS, and media outlets for the purpose of winning or losing elections to ensure fair elections. A police official stated, "Active reporting and tips from the public are crucial," and urged, "Please actively report violations of the Public Official Election Act to 112 or the nearest police station."

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