National Assembly launches probe into ballot shortages as NEC scandals mount

Lawmakers vote to approve a parliamentary investigation into the June 3 local elections ballot paper shortage during a plenary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis

The National Assembly approved a sweeping parliamentary investigation into the June 3 local election ballot paper shortage, paving the way for a broader probe into irregularities at the National Election Commission (NEC), an institution long insulated by constitutional guarantees of its independence.

The special committee on the Ninth Nationwide Local Elections Ballot Paper Shortage and Election Management Reform was officially launched on Thursday after legislators adopted the investigation motion and its 45-day plan in a plenary session, with 250 of 251 lawmakers present voting in favor. The probe will run in parallel with a separate criminal investigation that has already begun calling in election workers.

The 18-member committee is made up of nine lawmakers from the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), seven from the People Power Party (PPP) and two from minor parties, with PPP lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun as chair.

People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, head of the special committee on the ballot paper shortage and election management reform, speaks at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis

“The committee pledges before the people that it will do its utmost to uncover the full truth and to pursue sweeping reforms of election management, so that the precious right to vote — the most fundamental means by which the sovereign people delegate power — will never again be undermined,” Yoon said.

By the NEC’s own admission, ballot papers ran short at 91 polling stations nationwide on the day of the vote, forcing officials to supply additional papers. Of those, 26 polling stations had to suspend voting temporarily, causing delays and raising questions over whether some voters were effectively discouraged or prevented from casting their ballots.

In Seoul alone, at least 42 polling stations — in mostly traditionally conservative strongholds — were affected, including 20 in Songpa District, seven in Seongbuk, five in Gangnam, four in Gwangjin, two each in Seocho and Gangseo and one each in Yangcheon and Dongjak, with additional shortage cases reported in Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gimpo and other regions and cities in Gyeonggi Province.

The investigation motion frames the ballot as “the official document by which the sovereign people delegate power” and criticized the shortages as a “grave case that shook confidence in democratic procedures and treated popular sovereignty lightly.” It argues that the affair cannot be dismissed as a mere clerical error.

The committee is expected to scrutinize how the NEC calculated ballot printing volumes and whether the commission ignored advance warnings. The motion states the NEC was aware of the possibility of shortages yet “failed to respond in a timely manner,” creating serious confusion that could undermine public trust in the voting system.

Particular attention is likely to focus on Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station in Songpa District, where voting was suspended for more than an hour and at least a dozen voters ultimately gave up casting their ballots.

They will also review the NEC’s comprehensive election management guidelines, the criteria used to estimate ballot needs at each polling station, the chain of reporting and command between on-site managers, local commissions and NEC headquarters as well as the legality of on-site responses when voting was halted or delayed.

The probe, however, is already stretching beyond ballot logistics. Both ruling and opposition lawmakers say they expect the investigation to expose additional misconduct inside the NEC, including suspected preferential hiring, accounting problems and tax-funded travel abuses.

Roh Tae-ak, who resigned as its chairman amid mounting calls to investigate the institution, has become a symbol of those concerns. According to documents the NEC submitted to DPK Rep. Yang Bu-nam, Roh traveled with his spouse to Germany and Estonia in November 2024 under the banner of “exchange and cooperation with overseas election management bodies,” at a reported cost of more than 70 million won ($46,000), fully covered by the NEC.

A separate set of documents shows that Roh again traveled with his spouse to Copenhagen and Stockholm last November at a reported cost of roughly 90 million won, also charged to the NEC’s budget. However, information about his wife did not appear in its public readouts of those trips.