Police identify over 4,000 election law suspects in local election crackdown

Police have identified more than 4,000 people suspected of violating the election law since February in connection with the June 3 local elections, officials said Thursday.

A total of 2,549 election law violation cases, involving 4,191 people, were detected across the nation since Feb. 3 when preliminary candidate registrations for the local elections began, according to the National Office of Investigation.

Of the total suspects, 265 have been sent to the prosecution, while 3,394 were undergoing investigation.

Police decided to drop cases for the remaining 532.

By the type of crime, the spread of false information topped the list with 1,365 suspects, accounting 32.5 percent of the total, followed by acceptance of money or valuables at 25 percent and damage to campaign banners or posters at 7.4 percent.

Police also identified 210 suspects who committed violence against candidates or campaign workers, placing six of them under arrest.

Police said they plan to operate an intensive investigation period into election-related cases through Oct. 2, while strengthening monitoring of post-electio