Election offenses surge 1.8 times

[Anchor]

The number of election-related offenses has significantly increased during this presidential election.

Around 2,500 individuals have been caught, which is nearly double the number from the last presidential election.

Reporter Min Jeong-hee has the story.

[Report]

Honking their car horn to disrupt a campaign event, and even pushing campaign workers with their vehicles.

[Vehicle Passenger/Voice Altered: "What did we do! What did we do!"]

A man dressed in black approaches a campaign poster and quickly tears it down.

200m away, another poster is damaged.

A total of about 2,500 election offenders were caught during the presidential election process, including those involved in damaging banners or posters and election violence.

Among them, 8 individuals have been arrested.

This figure is about 1.8 times higher compared to the last presidential election and more than double that of the 19th presidential election.

In terms of crime types, the most common offenses were the destruction of banners and posters, with around 1,900 cases, followed by various violations of restrictions, dissemination of false information, and election violence.

In particular, the cases of damage to banners and posters have tripled compared to the 20th presidential election, and election violence has doubled.

[Lee Young-tae/Head of Public Crime Investigation Division, National Police Agency: "The increase in election offenses is primarily analyzed to be due to social chaos and conflicts between factions following the emergency martial law in December last year, which has led to a rise in confrontational crimes."]

Since the statute of limitations for election crimes is only six months after the election date, the police plan to operate a 'focused investigation period' for the next four months.

They also stated that if any issues requiring institutional improvements are identified during the investigation process, the Election Commission would be notified.

This is KBS News, Min Jeong-hee.

Video Editing: Seo Yoon-ji/Graphics: Kim Seong-il