Illegal ARS Use in Gyeongju Mayoral Election Leads to Police Complaint

The Gyeongju City Election Commission filed a complaint on the 13th with the Gyeongju Police Station against preliminary mayoral candidate A and an associate B, on charges of illegal electioneering using an automated response system (ARS). Ahead of the June 3 local elections, candidate A's side is understood to have used recorded voice messages appealing for support to send a large volume of ARS calls to Gyeongju citizens in early April. Investigations revealed that a total of approximately 270,000 calls were attempted, with about 97,000 of them confirmed to have been received.

The current Public Official Election Act permits telephone campaigning between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., stipulating that the call must be between the sender and receiver directly. While text messages, even if including voice or video, can be sent freely, the act explicitly prohibits calls made through automated sending devices using computers. This complaint was filed based on the judgment that such automatic sending methods simultaneously violate Articles 59 (Election Campaign Period) and 57-3 (Primary Election Campaign) of the Public Official Election Act.

If found guilty of these charges, the individuals could face imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 4 million won, and it could even lead to the nullification of election results.