The NEC held a meeting for the fair management of the 19th National Assembly elections with attendance of chairpersons of 16 Si/Do election commissions on March 19.

The chairperson of the NEC (Hon. Justice Nung-Hwan KIM) asked the chairpersons of Si/Do election commissions to make a lot of efforts for the successful elections: including taking a neutral and fair attitude in order to reflect public opinions on election results without any distortion; and pursuing voter-oriented election management and policy-oriented campaigns.

In addition, Justice Kim urged them to take a stern action against illegal activities in order to raise awareness that breaking the law has consequences: including taking stringent actions; and opening to the press.

In particular, he ordered that election commissions should do their utmost efforts to crack down on vote-buying and libel and malicious propaganda: vote-buying is the root cause of political corruption; and libel and malicious propaganda disrupts the decision-making of voters.

The NEC also ordered to take necessary measures and their action plans for the successful elections: including voter-oriented voting management; expansion of election information service for the public; expansion of voting convenience for the vulnerable such as handicapped voters; and pursuit of accuracy and fairness of legal procedures of election management.

When it comes to libel and malicious propaganda, the first priority should be prompt actions against it. Especially, in terms of matters which make a huge impact on elections, election commissions should ask disseminators and related parties to submit relevant materials and swiftly investigate it. Then, when the case is confirmed as illegal, election commissions should make it public before the election day and take a strict action including accusation.

In order to root out vote-buying, the NEC decided to take stringent measures without any exceptions: such as the reward system up to 500 million KRW; the system of preference for surrender of messengers of monetary goods or others; and the 50-time fine system.