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

Amidst the growing fallout from allegations that National Election Commission (NEC) officials artificially adjusted ("massaged") voter turnout figures in the network during the 6.3 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, former Minister Kim announced through his social media, “I urge the People Power Party to appoint a special prosecutor for the fraudulent election, and I hope the scope of the investigation will be expanded to thoroughly uncover all suspicions surrounding the ‘2025 Presidential Election,’ in which I was a candidate, in addition to this year’s local elections.”

It is highly unusual for a key presidential candidate from the opposition bloc to directly question the credibility of the election results and publicly demand an investigation.

“Can’t they even perform elementary school arithmetic?” NEC data manipulation allegations explode

In the final results 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 received 14,395,639 votes (41.15%). The final margin between the two candidates was 2,891,874 votes (8.27 percentage points).

The critical factor in former Minister Kim changing his stance, despite having immediately conceded the results right after the count, was the recently uncovered history of computer data modifications by the NEC.

Former Minister Kim cited evidence from data obtained by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hye from the NEC, titled “History of Changes to Reported Voter Counts by Time.”

According to this data, it was confirmed that on the day of the recent local elections, the NEC received a total of 72 reports of voter count adjustments from 56 out of the 255 district, city, and county election commissions across the country.

In particular, the Incheon Geomdan-gu Election Commission initially reported the number of voters at 4:00 PM as 54,665, but later adjusted it upward by 6,611 to 61,276, revealing significant numerical discrepancies.

In response, former Minister Kim strongly criticized the commission, stating, “How can they operate under the name of an ‘Election Commission’ when they make such sloppy mistakes in simple addition that even an elementary school student could perform?”

He further demanded that the opposition party (the People Power Party), rather than the ruling party, appoint a special prosecutor to conduct a forensic investigation into the 2025 presidential election’s server logs and overall computer data.

“Should have fought then”—regrets linger; political fallout expected

Former Minister Kim’s remarks have delivered a significant shock to the political establishment, which had previously trusted the security of the NEC’s computer network.

Even when past security checks by the National Intelligence Service pointed out that “the NEC network is vulnerable to hacking, and voting records or results could be artificially falsified,” the NEC had maintained the stance that “numerical manipulation within the system is impossible.”

However, with circumstances emerging that suggest NEC officials were retroactively adjusting and manipulating vote count statistics, the credibility of the entire computer system is being shaken to its core.

Some have expressed regret over the former minister's belated actions. The criticism stems from the fact that while he immediately conceded on the morning of the election—earning him the derogatory nickname “Kim-Concession”—he remained silent while foreign media and patriotic right-wing citizens raised allegations of election fraud and demanded recounts.

As a result, he faces political criticism that he should have demanded an immediate recount and engaged in a hardline struggle right after the election.

Nevertheless, as a presidential candidate himself has now stepped forward to urge the inclusion of the 2025 election in the investigation, the battle for political dominance between the ruling and opposition parties over the appointment of a special prosecutor and the forensic examination of the presidential election servers is expected to intensify.

Reporter Lim Yo-hee