SEOUL, Police vowed Monday to deal sternly with election offenses in the run-up to the April 10 parliamentary elections.

Kim Soo-hwan, deputy chief of the National Police Agency, said during a press briefing that police will carry out a stepped-up crackdown on election offices starting March 28, when the official campaigning period kicks off.

“We will also make sure to maintain political neutrality so as not to damage fairness,” he said.

Election crimes involving deepfake technology will be investigated directly by cyber investigation bureaus at each city and province, he added.

A total of 402 election crimes have been reported to police as of 6 a.m. Monday, officials said, with 676 suspects booked on related charges, and 13 of them referred to prosecutors. According to officials, 574 of them are still under police investigations.

By crime type, 352 cases involved spreading false information, followed by 72 cases involving receiving bribery, and 17 cases of public officials engaging in election campaign
s.

Police have been monitoring illegal election activities by forming situation rooms to counter such crimes 24 hours at 278 police stations nationwide since Feb. 7.

Source: Yonhap News Agency