Special Counsel Raids Olympic Park Handball Arena in Ballot Shortage Probe

The special counsel team led by Lee Tae-han, which is investigating a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections, has launched a compulsory search of the handball arena at Seoul's Olympic Park to secure election-related documents and closed-circuit television footage stored there.

The team said it began executing a search warrant at the handball arena in Seoul's Songpa district at about 8:30 a.m. on the 27th, deploying 12 people in total, including two prosecutors and forensic investigators.

The search aims to obtain various election-related documents produced during voting and ballot counting in Songpa district in the June 3 local elections, in order to clarify suspicions surrounding the ballot shortage. Along with the documents, the team is securing CCTV footage from the site where ballots and other items subject to verification are stored.

Starting at 9 a.m. on the 28th, the team plans to conduct a voluntary inspection of election-related items held at the arena, including about 2.47 million ballots from Songpa district and on-site CCTV records. The inspection follows resolutions by the plenary committees of the National Election Commission and the Songpa District Election Commission and will proceed with the cooperation of relevant agencies.

Ahead of the inspection, the team intends to secure CCTV footage from the storage site to examine suspicions related to how the ballots were stored and managed.