2.47 million public verification ballots have been exported... Additional verification of over 700 objections (comprehensive 3rd report)

All 2.47 million ballot papers from the Songpa area for the June 3 local elections, which had been publicly verified by the National Election Commission's special prosecutor team, were taken out from the Olympic Park handball stadium on the 29th.

It has been 146 days since the ballots were transported to the handball stadium.

A total of 433 boxes containing ballots were released that day.

Of these, the National Election Commission took 420 ballot boxes that were verified to be intact. Special prosecutors secured 13 boxes containing disputed ballots.

According to a Democratic Party member of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee, a total of 700 ballots were required for additional verification in this verification.

Some of these will be sent to the National Institute of Forensic Science (National Forensic Service), and some will be further analyzed by the special prosecutor's team.

The National Election Commission took the ballot boxes that had been publicly verified out of the stadium at around 6:15 a.m. on this day.

The police formed a human chain to block the protesters, and the removal was carried out quickly and without conflict.

National Election Commission employees first moved ballots that were not found to have any abnormalities.

They came out to gates 1-2 of the handball stadium, loaded ballot boxes into their vehicles, and left.

These ballots are stored in a secure warehouse separately designated by the National Election Commission in the metropolitan area.

In accordance with the Public Official Election Act, like other ballots, they are stored during the term of office of the elected president.

Ballot papers on which objections were raised due to suspected abnormalities were also taken out.

The National Election Commission's special investigation team plans to carry out detailed verification and other procedures regarding the ballots in question.

Some of these will be transferred to the National Forensic Service for detailed verification, and some will be analyzed by the special prosecutor's office and considered for conversion to investigation targets.

It is reported that the observation team raised issues, saying that some ballots were stiff without any fold marks.

It was reported that ballots that were questioned because they showed no signs of being folded or did not appear to be folded were also included in the contested ballots.

As all ballot boxes were taken out on this day, the 'blockade protest' at the Olympic Park handball stadium is expected to end after about four months.

The handball stadium, which was previously used as a voting center in the Jamsil area, has been blocked since June 5 after a shortage of ballot papers occurred.

Protesters virtually occupied the area around the entrance to the counting center, saying they could not accept the vote counting results.

Some of the protesters who came the day before and held an all-night sit-in upon hearing the news of the public verification even showed tears when the ballot boxes were taken out.

Even after the removal was completed, some protesters are still standing around the handball stadium, waving the Korean flag and the American flag and shouting slogans such as “Re-election through rigging.”

The National Election Commission's special prosecution team entered the handball stadium the day before, 52 days after starting the investigation, and conducted a public verification of approximately 2.47 million ballots from Songpa-gu and closed-circuit (CC) TV.

The special prosecution team ended the verification process at 00:38 am on this day, 12 hours after the public verification.

At the end of the verification process, Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han emphasized, "We have selected a significant number of ballots that require additional analysis and plan to conduct a detailed analysis in the future. We will not make hasty conclusions about matters that have not yet been confirmed or, conversely, predict the content without sufficient confirmation."

Some observers from the People's Power Party protested, requesting a recount, but this special prosecutor responded, "The ballots subject to investigation are limited to those selected here, and we have no authority over other ballots."

Immediately after Special Prosecutor Lee left, about 10 opposition party observers, including People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk and top leader Kim Min-soo, staged a sit-in protest in front of the verified ballot box until dawn to block the transfer.