People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo holds a press conference at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on June 4, 2025, to concede defeat. [Joint Press Corps]

Amidst the escalating controversy sparked by a joint investigation by the prosecution and police into allegations that National Election Commission (NEC) officials artificially manipulated (or "massaged") voting data in the computerized network during the June 3 fraudulent election, former Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo has officially raised questions regarding the results of the 21st Presidential Election, in which he was a candidate.

On the 27th, Kim announced via his social media, "I urge the People Power Party to appoint a special prosecutor for election fraud to conduct a thorough investigation that extends beyond this year's local elections to include all suspicions surrounding the '2025 Presidential Election,' in which I was a candidate."

It is highly unusual for a key opposition presidential candidate who was directly involved in the election to personally cast doubt on the reliability of the results and call for a public investigation.

"Can't they even do elementary school addition?" NEC computer manipulation allegations explode

In the final count of the 21st Presidential Election, Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung was elected with 17,287,513 votes (49.42%), while People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo lost with 14,395,639 votes (41.15%). The final margin between the two candidates was 2,891,874 votes (an 8.27%p difference).

The critical factor behind the change in attitude of Kim, who had initially conceded the results immediately after the count, was the recently uncovered history of computer data modifications by the NEC.

Kim presented evidence based on "hourly voting count modification report logs" obtained from the National Election Commission by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hye.

According to the data, on the day of the local election, the National Election Commission was found to have received a total of 72 requests to adjust vote counts from 56 out of the 255 district, city, and county election commissions across the country.

In particular, in the case of the Incheon Geomdan-gu Election Commission, a severe numerical error occurred when the number of voters as of 4:00 PM, initially reported as 54,665, was later retroactively adjusted upward by 6,611 to 61,276.

Regarding this, Kim harshly criticized the commission, stating, "How can they hold the title of 'Election Commission' when they make such sloppy errors in simple addition that even an elementary school student could perform?"

He further demanded that the investigation not be led by the ruling party, but that the opposition (the People Power Party) appoint a special prosecutor to conduct a forensic investigation of the 2025 presidential election server records and the entirety of the computerized data.

"Should have fought back then": Regret fills the air as political ripples are expected

Kim's recent remarks have caused a significant shock to the political establishment, which had previously trusted the security of the NEC’s computer network.

Even when the National Intelligence Service previously pointed out that "the NEC's computer network is vulnerable to hacking, and the vote status or result values could be artificially manipulated," the NEC had maintained the position that "numerical manipulation is impossible within the system."

However, as circumstances suggesting that NEC internal staff had been retroactively adjusting and matching vote statistics have come to light, the credibility of the entire computer system is being shaken to its core.

Some have expressed regret over Kim's belated actions. The criticism stems from the fact that he was mocked with the nickname "Kim Concession" for immediately declaring his defeat on the morning of the election, and that he remained silent while foreign media and patriotic conservative citizens were raising allegations of election fraud and demanding recounts.

As a result, it is difficult for him to avoid political criticism that he should have demanded an immediate recount and engaged in a hardline struggle right after the presidential election.

Nevertheless, now that a presidential candidate has personally stepped forward to call for the 2025 election to be included in the investigation, the tug-of-war between the ruling and opposition parties over the appointment of an opposition-recommended special prosecutor and a forensic investigation of the presidential election servers is expected to intensify significantly.

Reporter Lim Yo-hee