▲ Former National Election Commission (NEC) Chairman Noh Tae-ak leaves the press room after issuing a public apology and offering to resign over the ballot paper shortage crisis at the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on June 5.
The "50% print reduction guideline" that caused a shortage of ballot papers in the June 3 local elections was reported to former National Election Commission (NEC) Chairman Noh Tae-ak six months before the election, Rep. Kim Eun-hye of the ruling People Power Party said on June 19.
According to Rep. Kim, this contradicts the findings of the "Fact-Finding Committee on the Ballot Paper Shortage Crisis" (Fact-Finding Committee), which had previously stated that its investigation showed Noh had not received a prior report.
According to the NEC's written response submitted to Rep. Kim regarding "all records of decision-making, discussions, and approvals by election commissioners and standing commissioners regarding the production and distribution of local election ballot papers," the NEC stated, "The revision of the manual was included in the Review of Proposed Amendments to the Public Official Election Management Rules, which was reported at the 15th commission meeting held on November 24, 2025."
The revised manual included a provision to reduce the minimum number of printed ballots for local elections to 50 percent of the electorate.
Noh and Standing Commissioner Wi Cheol-hwan reportedly attended the meeting.
In short, the NEC's responses indicate that the "50% print reduction guideline" had already been reported to former NEC Chairman Noh at a meeting held about two weeks to a month before the comprehensive management guidelines and the election procedure manual were officially revised.
However, the NEC explained to Rep. Kim that "the content regarding the reduction of printed ballots—specifically the 50 percent lower limit for local elections—accounted for less than one page of a 42-page document, and because it was not reported as a separate item, there was no separate discussion on it."
The NEC had previously stated that it lowered the minimum ballot-printing threshold from 60 percent to 50 percent of registered voters through the "Comprehensive Management Guidelines for the 9th Nationwide Local Elections" approved by the secretary-general on December 10 last year, and the "Election Procedure Manual for Public Officials Elections" approved by the director of election policy on December 24 of the same year.
Cho Hyun-wook, head of the Fact-Finding Committee, also told reporters on June 17, "The NEC chairman replied that he had not received any report regarding the reduction of printed ballots before the guideline was implemented."
However, in a briefing on June 19, two days later, Cho said, "In a subsequent response, [former Chairman Noh] stated that the guideline to reduce printed ballots was indeed included as one of the reporting items for the NEC meeting." Cho added, "Noh explained that because he had already resigned from the chairmanship, he had relied on his memory without closely reviewing the reporting documents when he initially said he had not been briefed, but he has now confirmed that it was indeed in the report."
In response, Rep. Kim criticized, "Former Chairman Noh deceived the public with false testimony even before the Fact-Finding Committee to evade his responsibility." She added, "This also clearly exposes the limitations of the committee's investigation, which relied solely on the statements of high-ranking NEC officials."
She also emphasized, "There must be an immediate dismissal and a compulsory investigation of high-ranking NEC officials, including Standing Commissioner Wi, as well as an arrest warrant and investigation to secure custody of former Chairman Noh."
Meanwhile, according to data submitted to Rep. Kim Min-jeon of the People Power Party by the NEC, the commission paid Noh a total of 179,103,000 won in various allowances from his inauguration in May 2022 until last month.
The NEC chairman receives 2.9 million won per month for clean election promotion activities, and is also eligible to receive an attendance allowance of 150,000 won for attending meetings or official events, as well as an agenda review allowance of 100,000 won per meeting agenda item.
Noh received a minimum of 550,000 won to a maximum of 6.15 million won per month.
During the three months leading up to the election, he was paid 4.1 million won in March, 5.15 million won in April, and 4.15 million won in May.
On the same day, considering the responsibility for the systemic failure of the election management system, the Fact-Finding Committee recommended that the NEC request a criminal investigation into 12 NEC officials, including former Chairman Noh.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.