South Korean opposition pushes for public recount of 2.47 million ballot papers

Opposition lawmaker Yoon Sang‑hyun, chair of the National Assembly’s special committee investigating the June 3 local‑election ballot‑paper shortage, announced plans to conduct a public re‑examination of the 2.47 million ballots stored at the Olympic Park handball arena. He said the re‑count could be completed for about 5 billion won (≈ 530 k USD), far less than the estimated 200 billion won (≈ 2.1 m USD) rental cost for the venue. Yoon urged both ruling and opposition parties to discuss the proposal, noting that the election commission’s earlier report cited reduced ballot‑paper printing to 50 % of the electorate and procedural lapses in the decision‑making process. He also called for scrutiny of the commission’s rules that allowed the issue to be handled without formal legislative approval.