NEC Apologizes for June 3 Ballot Shortage... Acting Chairman Kang Visits Songpa District Office

Acting Secretary-General Kang Dong-wan of the National Election Commission visited the Songpa District Office in Seoul on the afternoon of the 24th and offered a rare official apology for a government official, stating that the delay in voting due to ballot shortages during the June 3 local elections was "an incident that should not have happened."

Acting Chairman Kang bowed his head, expressing his sincere apologies to the approximately 1,800 Songpa District officials and 1,300 vote counting workers who responded to the chaos at the time, noting that voting paper shortages occurred at 14 polling stations under Songpa District's jurisdiction.

Acting Chairman Kang identified the creation of guidelines by the NEC that it failed to predict in advance as the root cause of the incident. He acknowledged management oversight, stating that they were unable to respond swiftly because they had not anticipated the unprecedented situation. This stands in contrast to the NEC's previous stance, which had attributed the cause simply to a sudden surge in voter turnout.