Korea deserves transparent, trusted election watchdog

A police-prosecution task force will summon election officials this week as part of its investigation into the National Election Commission (NEC) over ballot paper shortages during the June 3 local elections. Last week, investigators searched the NEC headquarters and six related facilities, seizing documents and computer servers. According to media reports, the probe will focus on identifying the root cause of the ballot shortages and determining who was responsible for the decision to print enough ballots for only 50 percent of the total number of eligible voters in some electorates.

The task force must conduct a fair and thorough investigation into the election commission. It should also expand its probe to examine other issues and suspicions that have emerged since the local elections. The ballot shortage is merely the tip of the iceberg in an NEC-created scandal that has shaken the nation.

Various irregularities have been reported. In the Incheon mayoral race, the vote totals for two candidates — one from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the other from the main oppos