Police Speed Up Investigations into Election Cases, Racing to Wrap Up as the Statute of Limitations Approaches

As the launch of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency approaches, the police investigating cases of violations of the Public Official Election Act are hastening to handle the cases. It has been reported that the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency ordered each police station at the end of last August to complete investigations into electionrelated cases as much as possible within September. The police have been investigating about 3,000 election offenders received nationwide since the June 3 local elections. This measure aims to wrap up related cases as much as possible before the October 2 abolition of the Prosecutors' Office and the reorganization of the investigation system. However, there are also concerns on the ground that hurrying investigative procedures could lead to insufficient factchecking and legal review. Electionrelated crimes have a short statute of limitations, and recently, cases of negative campaigning using new technologies such as deepfakes have increased, making investigations more difficult.