The impassioned cries of young people echoing through Olympic Park: “Rerun the election due to fraudulent voting; implement same-day voting and manual counting.”

What the people want is simple. To put it briefly, because they cannot trust the current voting and counting system, they are demanding a transparent system that all citizens can accept.

In the results of the recent June 3rd local elections, the ruling party appeared to have an advantage in almost every district during early voting. The past election pattern, where the ruling party candidate loses in the main vote but wins by a wide margin in early voting, was repeated exactly. Most experts specializing in election analysis describe this as “statistically impossible results.”

There is growing outcry that the current early voting system—which allows voting anywhere in the country without prior notification, uses the post office to transport ballots, and requires ballot boxes to be stored for several days—is fundamentally untrustworthy. Even from a common-sense perspective, such a large gap compared to the main election results is inexplicable.

Furthermore, public distrust in electronic ballot counting machines (ballot sorters) is profound. This is because cases of sorting errors have been continuously reported. There would be no problem if manual counting were the standard and machines were only used for simple counting, like cash counters in banks. One cannot help but wonder why they insist on using electronic counting machines even as the public cries out in protest.

Now, even the NEC's (National Election Commission) main server has reached a point where it cannot be trusted. I previously served as the head of the computer division at a large government-funded research institute. Therefore, the arguments of computer experts that we should directly inspect the servers and thoroughly investigate the status of the network operations are entirely valid.

Nevertheless, the NEC seems to naively believe that they only need to survive this current hurdle.

In particular, while the ruling party agrees to the introduction of a special prosecutor, they insist on limiting the scope of the investigation only to the issue of ballot shortages and internal corruption within the NEC. Unless the ruling party is an accomplice to the NEC, how could they possibly make such a feeble proposal?

The special parliamentary investigation committee should be concluded promptly, and a special prosecutor must be launched immediately. Needless to say, this special prosecutor must be led by the opposition party.

However, the ruling party only insists on a special prosecutor appointed by a third party. What are they so afraid of that they keep repeating the same claim? Many citizens are suspicious that there may be an unspeakable original sin behind their inability to accept a comprehensive special prosecutor who is authorized to investigate everything.

We must also hasten the recount of the 382 ballot boxes at the Olympic Park handball stadium, which has become a hot-button issue. If the NEC thinks that the public will get tired and give up by just stalling for time, this will only invite an even greater crisis. What exactly did they do in the processing of these votes that makes them delay a public verification through a recount for so long?

Whether it is the “flawed election” the NEC claims, or the “fraudulent election” the people suspect, shouldn't they just transparently release all the data and let it be investigated? Even if it means facing corresponding punishment for any past wrongdoing, correcting the nation's election system is the bare minimum duty they owe to the people.

If the government and the legislature cannot resolve this simple and reasonable demand of the people to honestly count the ballots exactly as they were cast, anyone would feel that taxpayer money is being wasted.

Many citizens realize that if this opportunity is missed, voting will degenerate into a mere formality, and elections will become events where we are forced to accept results pre-arranged by the NEC.

In particular, young people are asking, “How can we ever inherit such a world?” and have been continuing their struggle for over a month in the scorching heat in Olympic Park and across the country.

It is pathetic to see the Minister of National Defense refusing to disclose military service records by blaming recording errors, or the Minister of the Interior and Safety, who, despite being pointed to as responsible for the fraudulent election, cannot even file a lawsuit for defamation against the allegations directed at him. Seeing their behavior—clinging to their positions and evading responsibility—one cannot help but sigh at how identical they are to Lee Jae-myung.

Unable to ignore the impassioned cries of the youth echoing through Olympic Park—“Rerun the fraudulent election, implement same-day voting and manual counting”—I joined the struggle today (July 11th), even with my frail body, despite temperatures exceeding 30°C.

We must never miss this opportunity. I am determined to stand with the youth of this country until the very end, until we extensively reform the NEC and hold a fair rerun of the election by introducing same-day voting and a 100% manual counting system.

Dr. Kim Jae-soo and his wife participating in the struggle at 'Olympic Park' on a hot day exceeding 30°C.

◆ Dr. Kim Jae-soo

Ph.D. in Informatics, current Chairman of the National Light Foundation. Former Head of Division at the Agency for Defense Development, former Adjunct Professor at Kyonggi University, former Co-Representative of the National Movement Headquarters for the Abolition of Privileges, and former 5th and 6th President of the Republic of Korea ROTC Patriotic Comrades Association.