▲ Prime Minister Kim Min-seok speaks during a meeting of ministers in Seoul on May 20, 2026, to discuss measures to ensure fairness in the June 3 local elections. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) prime minister-local elections

(LEAD) PM pledges zero tolerance for disinformation, vote-buying ahead of local elections

(ATTN: ADDS separate statement from interior, justice ministers in last 3 paras)

SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Kim Min-seok pledged zero tolerance Wednesday for disinformation, vote-buying and public servants' election interference, saying the government will make sure to bring perpetrators to justice and seek the maximum penalties for them.

Kim made the remark at the start of a meeting of related government ministers convened to discuss measures to ensure fairness in the June 3 local elections that will select provincial governors, mayors and local councilors across the nation. Thousands of posts are up for grabs.

"We will deal sternly and swiftly with three major election crimes," Kim said. "These are clearly grave crimes that violate voters' right to know and distort the democratic process of elections. We will never sit idly by."

In particular, deep-fake election crimes using artificial intelligence (AI) are serious, Kim said.

"We will thoroughly track down those involved from the original creator to distributors to make sure to uproot the crime," he said. "The justice ministry, the interior ministry, the prosecution and police should systematically cooperate and deal with perpetrators, with the maximum penalties allowed under law."

In a separate public address, Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung and Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho also vowed to crack down on the spread of fake news regarding the upcoming elections.

"The government will make all-out efforts so that this election will be the fairest and cleanest election in our constitutional history," Yun said.

The justice ministry and the prosecution plan to utilize digital forensic investigative methods to track down those who spread false information, including fake reports created using AI technology, according to Jung.

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