Special prosecutor raids home of former National Election Commission chief over junket allegations

The special prosecutor investigating the National Election Commission — including a ballot shortage that emerged during the June 3 local elections — executed a search and seizure warrant Wednesday at the home of former NEC Chairman Noh Tae-ak over allegations that he took overseas trips disguised as official business.

The special prosecutor's team, led by Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han, said it carried out the search at around 8:10 a.m., seizing Noh's mobile phone and other items on charges of embezzlement and falsification and use of official documents. A separate warrant was executed at NEC headquarters at around 9 a.m., where investigators secured related materials. The team deployed 12 personnel in total, including two seconded prosecutors and seven investigators.

The team said it had uncovered additional evidence suggesting that an NEC official falsified an overseas trip report — an official government document — in connection with Noh's foreign travel. A joint investigation unit of prosecutors and police had previously sought a warrant to search Noh's home as part of its own probe into the junket allegations, but a court rejected the application.

Noh is suspected of taking his spouse on trips that were nominally official but amounted to leisure travel, including an eight-night, nine-day trip to Australia and New Zealand in December 2022, a seven-night, nine-day trip to Germany and Estonia in November 2024, and an eight-night, ten-day trip to Denmark and Sweden in November last year.

The People Power Party had filed a complaint with the joint investigation unit over the allegations. The unit found that a civil servant had been assigned exclusively to accompany Noh's spouse and had attended unofficial tourism activities on her behalf, missing official program events as a result. Investigators suspected that official documents were then falsified to show the civil servant had attended those events. The special prosecutor's team subsequently took over the case.

"Based on our analysis of the seized materials, we will uncover the truth behind allegations of lax management across the NEC — including the junket trips — and strictly establish the responsibility of all those involved, including current and former commissioners and staff," the team said.