Police Investigate 1,517 Suspects in June 1 Local Elections... 9 Already Detained

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] The National Police Agency announced on the 2nd that it has cracked down on 1,517 election offenders in relation to the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections.

According to the police, since January, they have operated an 'Election Offender Investigation Situation Room' at 277 police stations nationwide to crack down on election offenders. As a result of these efforts, a total of 1,030 cases involving 1,517 individuals were detected. Among them, 132 people (9 detained) were referred to the prosecution, and 1,191 are still under investigation. By type of crime, spreading false information was the most common with 430 people, followed by bribery with 338 people, and damage to banners and posters with 217 people. By source of investigation leads, complaints and accusations accounted for the largest number with 739 people (48.7%), followed by reports with 393 people (25.9%), and intelligence tips with 255 people (16.8%).

The police plan to handle cases swiftly and fairly in cooperation with the prosecution, considering that the statute of limitations for election-related crimes is six months from the election day. A National Police Agency official stated, "We plan to thoroughly investigate election crimes so that offenders will be punished regardless of whether they are elected or not," and added, "Going forward, the police will continue to collect intelligence and crack down on acts of providing money or goods under the pretexts of congratulations, consolation, or return gifts after the election day, and will do their best to establish a clean and fair election culture."

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