'Political Preaching and Banner Tearing'... 96 Election Offenders Booked in Gwangju and Jeonnam

Police Operate 'Election Crime Investigation Situation Room' Ahead of June 1 Local Elections

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Gwangju and Jeonnam police have booked 96 election offenders related to the 20th presidential election.

According to the Gwangju and Jeonnam Police Agency on the 10th, the number of election offenders booked until the day before in relation to this presidential election was 52 in Gwangju (43 cases) and 44 in Jeonnam (36 cases).

Among them, 13 were referred to the prosecution, and 80 are currently under investigation. Three people with no criminal charges such as simple mistakes have had their cases closed.

By type, damage to posters and the like was the most common with 55 people, followed by 23 others including speech disruption and assault on election officials, 8 for false information disclosure, 6 for pre-election campaigning, 3 for providing money or goods, and 1 for violation of prohibition on election involvement by public officials.

As a representative case of the most common crime type, damage to posters, it was investigated that a man in his 60s damaged two election campaign banners of presidential candidate Jo Won-jin of the Uri Party hanging on roads in Ssangchon-dong and Geumho-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju on the 18th of last month.

On the 22nd of last month, a man in his 60s also damaged three presidential candidate banners installed at the intersection near Mudeung Library in Duam-dong, Buk-gu.

One person who violated the prohibition on election involvement by public officials is a church pastor, suspected of giving a speech disparaging a specific presidential candidate. The police, having received a complaint, are currently investigating the exact circumstances of this case.

In addition, on the day of the presidential election, the day before, a drunken man in his 50s was arrested on the spot for causing a disturbance including using abusive language at a polling station in Seo-gu.

Although the presidential election has ended, with the local elections scheduled for June 1, the police will continue to operate the 'Election Offender Investigation Situation Room' to focus on cracking down on the 'five major election crimes': ▲ bribery ▲ dissemination of false information ▲ election involvement by public officials ▲ election violence ▲ illegal mobilization of groups.

They also plan to prepare thoroughly against election crimes based on a cooperative system with related organizations such as the Election Commission and prosecution.

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