Seoul mayor issues formal statement urging electoral reform, parliamentary investigation and special prosecutor; vows to raise real estate concerns with president at Cabinet meeting
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon issued a formal statement Saturday calling for a full investigation and punishment of those responsible for the ballot shortage that disrupted the recent local elections.
In the statement, Oh urged a thorough inquiry, accountability for those at fault and a sweeping overhaul of the election management system. The statement described the ballot shortage as "a grave violation of suffrage and an affront to the constitutional order that cannot be justified by any excuse."
Oh also called for a parliamentary investigation and a special prosecutor. "We must clearly establish why ballot supply was miscalculated and why the supply chain broke down, and whether there was any intent or gross negligence," he said. "The National Assembly must use every available means — including a parliamentary investigation and a special prosecutor — to get to the truth."
Oh also demanded a thorough restructuring of the National Election Commission, which he said had escaped meaningful consequences following a previous hiring irregularities scandal, partly due to tacit protection from some political circles. He said the commission had shown chronic lapses in discipline and called for severe punishment of those responsible, along with deep personnel and organizational reform.
Oh raised the need for electoral reform as well, saying measures were needed to address the distortion of early voting — which he said had effectively become a second main voting day — along with the related problems of transporting and storing ballots.
Oh had earlier appeared on a television broadcast and called on the president to take responsibility over the ballot shortage. "This is something that should never have happened," he said. "The president must feel a profound sense of responsibility."
Oh reiterated his intention to attend the first Cabinet meeting of the new presidential term and convey public sentiment to the president directly on both the ballot shortage and real estate issues. "The biggest problem right now is jeonse and monthly rent," he said. "If current policy is maintained, I believe a far greater disaster — a real estate catastrophe — will arrive within one to two years. I want to have a candid conversation about this and urge a change in direction."
choijh@heraldcorp.com
