Gyeongnam Police Agency Arrests 154 Election Offenders in General Election... 100% Increase Compared to 21st Session

88 People Spread False Information, the Highest Number

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 12th that it has identified 154 election-related offenders in connection with the 22nd National Assembly election, referring 3 to the prosecution, dismissing 1 case, and currently investigating 150 others.

To prepare for this general election, the provincial police agency has operated an election crime investigation situation room at 24 police stations across the province since February, cracking down on election-related offenses.

As a result, 75 cases have been cracked down on, and 71 cases are under investigation.

This represents a 100% increase compared to the 77 offenders identified during the 21st general election in 2020.

Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

Among the types of election crimes detected, spreading false information was the most common with 88 offenders.

Following that were ▲bribery with 16 offenders ▲damage to banners or posters with 8 offenders ▲public officials' involvement in elections with 7 offenders ▲pre-election campaigning with 6 offenders ▲and election violence with 4 offenders.

Among these, the five major election crimes?bribery, spreading false information, public officials' involvement in elections, election violence, and illegal organization mobilization?accounted for 74.7% of the total.

Excluding election violence, the other five major crimes increased by 22.8% compared to 51.9% detected in the previous general election, with spreading false information increasing dramatically by 388%.

The police conducted investigations based on leads including ▲50 complaints and accusations ▲13 reports ▲and 7 requests for investigation and petitions.

Since the 22nd general election is the first National Assembly election held after establishing a responsible investigation system, the police plan to thoroughly investigate election crimes.

Considering the six-month statute of limitations, a focused investigation period has been set from the 11th of this month to August 12th, concentrating investigative efforts to complete investigations three months before the statute of limitations expires.

Chief Kim Byung-woo stated, “We will do our best to establish a clean and fair election culture by continuing to crack down on acts of providing money or goods under the pretext of gratitude after election day.”

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