'Public Official Election Campaigning?'… Ministry of the Interior and Safety Strengthens Public Service Inspection

Joint Inspection Team Gradually Expanded to 498 Members

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will strengthen inspections of local government officials' election interference activities nationwide in cooperation with metropolitan and provincial governments until the April 10 general election.

On the 6th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that with just over 60 days remaining until the 22nd National Assembly election, it will fully mobilize inspection capabilities together with metropolitan and provincial governments to focus on public service inspections to ensure the election is conducted fairly without interference by local government officials.

Since the 11th of last month, the Ministry has been operating a joint inspection team with metropolitan and provincial governments consisting of 56 personnel, and plans to expand this team to 146 members starting from the 10th, which is 60 days before the election. From the 21st of next month, 20 days before the election, the team will be gradually expanded to 498 members. From 60 days before the election, local government officials are prohibited from promoting political party policies to election district residents or attending any political events hosted by political parties, as well as meetings of neighborhood leaders such as tong, ri, and ban chiefs.

The joint inspection team will focus on violations of local government officials' duty of election neutrality and prohibition of election involvement. Inspection targets include acts such as joining and participating in a specific political party, engaging in primary election campaigns to support a particular candidate, and expressing support or opposition in election-related SNS posts, which violate the duty of political neutrality. Additionally, inspections will cover misconduct such as accepting money or entertainment, unauthorized absence from the workplace, passive administration that may occur during the election period, and providing various preferential treatments such as permits and approvals.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will distribute a booklet titled "Guidelines on Prohibition of Election Involvement by Public Officials" to local governments nationwide and will work to prevent recurrence of similar cases by sharing major cases detected through election inspections. An "Anonymous Reporting Channel for Public Election Corruption" will also be established and operated on the websites of local governments nationwide and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min stated, "For the National Assembly election to be conducted fairly, the election neutrality and fair handling of duties by local government officials are of utmost importance," and added, "We will make every effort to ensure thorough inspection activities to establish strict public service discipline among local government officials."

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