Election Accounts Opened to Public Perusal

Politicians are bracing themselves for controversy when candidates' campaign expenditures from the 16th General Election (held on May 13) are posted on the homepage of the National Election Commission (NEC) at www.nec.go.kr.

The NEC decided to broadcast accounts of the 1,038 candidates following the publicization of reports on military service, tax payment, and property records.

Once they are posted, voters can verify which candidate gave accurate or false reports with a single 'click'. Anyone who discovers a discrepancy in the accounts of expenditure on equipment rental, vehicles, publicity booklets and songs, and campaign assistants will be invited to report it to the NEC. The NEC will further investigate reported reported accounting discrepancies during a month-long inspection of election expense accounts.

by Lee Jung-min