By Park Si-soo
Staff reporter
A 36-year-old man was booked Friday for posting on the Internet two photos of ballot sheets marked with ballot stamps for certain candidates in the June 2 local elections, police said Friday.
Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency said the man, surnamed Shin, took the "certification photos" ㅡ shots posted by netizens to verify that they voted ㅡ inside a polling booth and then posted them on Web sites along with comments encouraging others to vote at around 11 a.m. on election day.
Posting photos of marked ballot sheets on the Internet is illegal, according to election laws. A violator could face up to two years in jail or 4 million won ($3,300) in fine.
Police believe he posted the photos to support certain candidates because he said in the comment that he pinned his hope on certain candidates.
"He denies the allegation, saying he didn't know it was illegal. But we believe it's politically motivated, given that the Internet community where the photos appeared was popular with more than 1 million members," said a police officer.
In the mean time, Miryo, a member of a popular girl band Brown Eyed Girls, also posted a photo of herself holding unmarked ballot sheets on twitter.
Some Internet users accused her of violating the law, but the National Election Commission said it's okay to post photos of unmarked ballot sheets.
"She did not violate the law as the ballot sheets were not marked with ballot stamps indicating her choice," a commission official said.