Protests over shortage of ballots in local elections in South Korea continue to escalate. Lee Jae-myung has ordered a thorough investigation

(South Korea News) The "voter shortage" incident in the local elections in South Korea has continued to escalate. Thousands of people gathered for protests over the weekend, demanding a new election. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung also expressed deep regret and ordered the establishment of an investigation team to thoroughly investigate the matter.

According to reports from Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg, the protests reached their peak on Saturday (June 6th) evening. Based on an informal estimate by the police, approximately 10,000 people gathered outside the Seoul SK Olympic Arena, the venue for the local election vote count.

Most of these protesters were young people in their twenties and thirties. They waved huge flags, shouted "Re-election" and sang the national anthem. Some even brought their pets to the scene, and there were young volunteers distributing water, coffee and chocolate.

As of 2 a.m. on Sunday (the 7th), there were still at least 1,000 protesters remaining at the scene.

Most of the protesters interviewed emphasized that this protest was not related to political stance; rather, it was an effort to defend democracy themselves.

Political commentator Park Sang-bum also pointed out that, from any perspective, the mistakes made by the National Election Commission this time are unacceptable. "When the fairness of the election is compromised, the foundation of democracy is endangered."

On Sunday (the 7th), Li posted on social media platform X, stating that he has instructed the establishment of a joint investigation team including the prosecution and the police to thoroughly investigate the entire incident and determine the responsibility.

He emphasized that this incident was not only unacceptable, but the subsequent response and the explanations given to the public were also far from adequate. "This is a major event that undermines the foundation of the country's democratic rights. As a citizen and a president accountable to the government, I feel deeply regretful about this."

The leader of the largest opposition party in South Korea, Park Dong-hyuk of the People Power Party, said at a press conference on Sunday that he had gone to the protest site and hoped to conduct a joint audit with the Democratic Party led by Lee Jae-myung.

In the local elections held on June 3rd, a total of 67 polling stations across South Korea had to urgently deliver additional ballots due to insufficient supplies. Among them, 35 were located in Seoul alone. There were 50 polling stations nationwide that actually experienced ballot shortages, and as many as 22 polling stations had their voting process temporarily halted due to exhausted ballots.

The Central Election Management Committee of South Korea stated that due to the fact that more people chose to vote early in recent elections, there were a large number of unused ballots on the election day. Therefore, this time they will only print ballots for 50% of the eligible voters. Chairman of the Election Management Committee, Lu Tae-yoo, has publicly apologized for the mistake and resigned to take responsibility.