Noh Tae-ak, Chairman of the National Election Commission [Yonhap News photo]

Noh Tae-ak, Chairman of the National Election Commission (NEC), resigned on the 5th in relation to the shortage of ballots during the June 3rd local elections.

At a press conference held at the Government Complex in Gwacheon that afternoon, Noh stated, "I deeply regret all responsibility for the situation," and announced, "I will step down from the position of Chairman of the National Election Commission."

He added, "Heo Cheol-hoon, the Secretary-General, has also submitted his resignation, taking responsibility for the situation as the head of the secretariat."

Noh expressed, "The high public interest and active participation in local autonomy shown through voter turnout have been damaged by the ballot shortage incident. Furthermore, as the NEC Chairman, I feel immense responsibility and profound regret for the situation that has led to distrust in the electoral process by undermining public confidence in election management."

He also emphasized, "I will sincerely participate in all procedures to confirm the NEC's responsibility for this incident, including any parliamentary investigation, and will never evade responsibility if there are any matters that require accountability based on the results."

The NEC plans to form a fact-finding committee composed solely of external experts to identify the causes of the incident and develop measures to prevent recurrence.

Noh explained, "To prevent such an incident from recurring, we will establish the fact-finding committee as quickly as possible to identify the fundamental causes, problems, and response processes that led to the ballot shortage, and we will clarify all results by preparing improvement measures for recurrence prevention."

Previously, on the day of the 9th Local Elections, June 3rd, a shortage of ballots at some polling stations, including those in Gangnam-gu, Gwangjin-gu, and Songpa-gu in Seoul, caused voters to wait, leading to growing criticism of the NEC's poor election management.

Notably, polling station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, which had been blocked by protesters claiming electoral fraud, was only made accessible on the morning of the 5th after approximately 1,000 police officers were deployed, and two ballot boxes were removed after a 2-day and 3-night standoff.