Civic groups allege election officials neglected duties and misused ballot budget, while Han Dong-hoon calls for leadership overhaul A protest calling for voting to be redone in Songpa-gu, Seoul, following the June 3 ballot shortage controversy, continues Monday. (Yonhap) The fallout from the June 3 ballot shortage widened Monday, as police began investigating allegations against National Election Commission officials and some lawmakers called for an overhaul of the election watchdog.The controversy erupted on Election Day, June 3, when polling stations in parts of Seoul ran short of ballot papers, leaving some voters unable to cast their ballots before the official 6 p.m. closing time.The NEC extended voting hours at affected polling stations, but the move sparked criticism over the commission’s authority, preparations and crisis response.The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Mobile Investigation Unit questioned a complainant from the civic group People’s Welfare Countermeasure Committee at around 9:30 a.m. Monday over allegations that senior NEC officials neglected their duties.The group filed a complaint on Wednesday against NEC Chair Rho Tae-ak and other officials on charges including dereliction of duty and abuse of power. On Thursday, it filed an additional complaint accusing NEC officials of occupational embezzlement and breach of trust.“NEC Chair Rho Tae-ak’s term was supposed to end in March,” Kim Soon-hwan, the group’s secretary-general, said Monday as he entered Seoul Gangdong Police Station for questioning. “It is a national-level deception for the NEC to say that everything has been settled with Rho’s resignation.”Kim also argued that the NEC’s decision to prepare ballots equivalent to only 50 percent of eligible voters, despite having secured a budget for ballots amounting to 1.1 times the number of voters, could constitute embezzlement.Six other civic groups have submitted similar complaints to the National Office of Investigation through the government’s online petition platform. Civic group People's Welfare Countermeasure Committee Secretary-General Kim Soon-hwan (center) speaks to reporters Monday as he arrives at the Seoul Gangdong Police Station for questioning after the group filed a complaint against NEC Chair Rho Tae-ak on June 3. (Yonhap) Police are expected to examine whether the NEC complied with its ballot distribution standards.A joint investigation team involving both prosecutors and police is also expected to be formed soon, after President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday instructed authorities to establish a team dedicated to a thorough fact-finding probe into the NEC’s handling of the ballot shortage.“We will proceed swiftly with necessary investigations in accordance with procedure so that there will be no disruption in the operation of the joint investigation team,” a police official said. Independent Rep. Han Dong-hoon attends a National Assembly session on Friday, following his victory in a June 3 by-election. (Yonhap) The controversy has also moved into the political arena.Independent lawmaker and former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, who won a June 3 by-election in Busan’s Buk-A constituency, said he would propose a series of bills to overhaul the NEC’s structure and oversight.In a Facebook post Monday, Han said he would seek to revise the Board of Audit and Inspection Act to allow official inspections of the NEC and election commissions at all levels, while preventing such audits from being reported to the president.“Election management should not be ‘as fair as possible’ but ‘100 percent fair,’” Han wrote. “This is an area where an absolute standard of fairness must apply.”Han said he would propose bills to prohibit NEC officials from taking leave during election periods and to make the NEC chair an independent full-time position, instead of a nonstanding post concurrently held by a Supreme Court justice.He argued that the current system leaves responsibility unclear and creates an overly close structural link between the election watchdog and the judiciary.The main opposition People Power Party has called for a revote, while protests have continued in Songpa-gu, Seoul, one of the areas affected by the shortage.President Lee also addressed the controversy Monday during a press conference marking the first anniversary of his inauguration. He said he had scheduled a meeting later in the day with the National Assembly speaker, prime minister, Supreme Court chief justice and Constitutional Court president to discuss how to collectively approach the matter.The ballot shortage controversy “has been conflated with election fraud conspiracy theories, but is different in nature,” Lee said.“Politically motivated attempts to continuously incite and indoctrinate people with claims that are clearly untrue, and to use them as a means of building political power, are entirely different from raising the question, ‘How can it be possible in South Korea that people were unable to vote?’”