Kim Moon-soo's recent actions have gone beyond disappointing many conservative citizens, to the point of betraying the public. [Photo = Yonhap News] 

Kim Byung-joon, Co-representative of Professors for Practicing Freedom and Justice (Kyo-mo) A prominent labor activist, a clean public servant, a selfless political journey, a reformist within the conservative camp.... 

These descriptors, I believe, have long represented Kim Moon-soo. Despite his past as a left-wing activist, the majority of conservative citizens who supported him placed great expectations on his conscientious footsteps and convictions. Therefore, in the emergency presidential primary within the People Power Party after President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment, they did not hesitate to choose Kim Moon-soo over Han Duck-soo, who failed to show a clear conviction in supporting emergency martial law. 

In fact, many conservative groups, including myself, also held expectations for Kim Moon-soo. It is true that we collectively declared conditional support for him, urging him to defeat the impeachment collaborators within his own party and to dedicate all his efforts to investigating the fraudulent election. 

Kim Moon-soo's Actions Have Caused Betrayal Beyond Disappointment

However, Kim Moon-soo's subsequent actions have gone beyond disappointing many conservative citizens to the point of betraying the public. 

In the presidential election held on June 3rd this year, just like in the past, the early voting results were manipulated to a tee. This is evident from the overwhelmingly high early voting turnout for Lee Jae-myung, which consistently appeared across all electoral districts and starkly contrasted with the election day results, needing no further explanation. 

In 2022, President Yoon Suk-yeol narrowly won the presidential election by a slim margin of 250,000 votes due to measures preventing proxy voting for confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the discovery of fraudulent ballots for infected individuals. At the time, it was widely known that the early voting results, which showed the opposite outcome of the election day votes, were clear indicators of fraudulent manipulation. 

CCP Code Found in NEC Data

As VON has repeatedly pointed out, a coded message saying "follow the party" was discovered in the National Election Commission (NEC) data during the 2020 general election. This proves that the manipulation went beyond simple win/loss outcomes and was meticulously designed down to the precise number of voters. Ultimately, it serves as undeniable evidence that our election system was violated without a single error, precisely according to the Chinese Communist Party's intentions. 

In fact, it seems clear that their arrogance led to their conspicuous defeat in the 2022 presidential election. As Moon Jae-in's traitorous actions reached their peak, the public's conviction grew stronger: "We will not have a left-wing government controlled by the Chinese Communist Party any longer." 

Consequently, if they had rigged the election to ensure a left-wing victory with a significant margin of over 5%, the public's anger over fraudulent elections would have been immense. Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party meticulously considered this and, by leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic, it is presumed they precisely pre-set a small victory of around 1% through manipulation. 

The 20th Presidential Election Victory Was the Result of a Failed Engineered Manipulation

However, Heaven intervened, and when fraudulent ballots with pre-marked votes for the left-wing candidate were discovered among the ballots cast by confirmed COVID-19 cases in Eunpyeong-gu, the fraudulent voting by 250,000 confirmed cases, based on official statistics from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, was nullified. For this reason, it can be said that Yoon Suk-yeol was able to win the presidency in the 20th presidential election. 

The Chinese Communist Party meticulously calculated the public's anti-China and anti-left sentiment, along with the COVID-19 situation, and pre-manipulated the vote counts to ensure Lee Jae-myung's victory by approximately 1%. However, as evidence of fraudulent ballots continued to be discovered on the ground, the engineered manipulation failed, leading to Yoon Suk-yeol's narrow victory by a margin of 0.7%p. This analysis was previously presented in my editorial in the Hankyoreh Shinmun (December 18, 2025). 

The Left's Mistake in the 20th Presidential Election Led to an Unreasonable Impeachment Attempt

The left-wing forces' painful 'mistake due to arrogance' rather led to an unreasonable attempt to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol and resulted in more brazen and organized manipulation in the recent June 3rd presidential election. The background for this expansion of election manipulation will be discussed in detail in my next commentary. 

 Conservative citizens, concerned that the 2022 election manipulation might be repeated, chose Kim Moon-soo as their presidential candidate for 2025. [Photo = Yonhap News] 

Fraudulent elections have now become a matter of nationwide concern. Conservative citizens, fearing a repeat of the 2022 election manipulation, chose Kim Moon-soo as their candidate. This was a strong endorsement and a fervent wish for him to eradicate fraudulent elections, following President Yoon. 

However, Kim Moon-soo, disregarding the overwhelming desire of the entire nation, and unconcerned by the defeat resulting from the increasingly blatant discrepancies between early and election day voting, was the first to declare his acceptance of the election results before 6 a.m. the day after the election.

Kim Moon-soo's Acceptance of Election Results is an Act of Betrayal to the Nation

The candidate himself, setting aside the clear possibility of fraudulent elections and without mentioning or pursuing election nullification lawsuits regardless of the potential ruling, was the first to declare acceptance. This can be seen as an act of betrayal to the nation. Kim Moon-soo stabbed his supporters in the back. 

Shamelessly, Kim Moon-soo later overturned his declaration not to run and also entered the race for the People Power Party leadership. While institutional media and various outlets widely reported on Kim Moon-soo's high chances of winning, the angered public sentiment did not forgive his actions. Ultimately, the public supported Jang Dong-hyuk, who showed more freshness, and Kim Moon-soo was conspicuously defeated in the party leadership election. 

Frankly, I never trust opinion polls, as they are conducted based on manipulated sample populations released by the NEC. In other words, Kim Moon-soo failed to maintain his lead in various polls and received a clear judgment from the public. 

Kim Moon-soo Declares Support for Han Dong-hoon, Who Led the Impeachment

However, Kim Moon-soo did not stop there and went a step further by issuing a statement supporting Han Dong-hoon, who led the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, a candidate produced by his own party. This truly shows behavior no different from that of past conservative traitorous forces who have ridiculed the public. In response, conservative citizens are now expressing not just disappointment but also anger towards Kim Moon-soo. 

It is important to address the question of whether Kim Moon-soo was truly unaware of the reality of fraudulent elections. Even if he was unaware, how could he have ignored the fervent calls of the majority of conservative citizens who support his party? In this regard, I would like to organize the following arguments. 

What is Kim Moon-soo's Identity?

What kind of identity does Kim Moon-soo possess? It is not difficult to figure this out. 

Around the time of the People Power Party's preliminary elections for the June 3rd presidential race this year, I had a brief opportunity to meet him at a dinner invitation from an acquaintance. At that gathering, I directly asked him. 

"Candidate Kim, why have you not expressed your stance on fraudulent elections, the malicious intervention of China, and the May 18 Gwangju Uprising?" This was the direct question I posed to candidate Kim Moon-soo. While I understand he had to leave due to a busy schedule, he hastily left the venue without giving a definitive answer to my question. 

Kim Moon-soo was recruited into the Kim Young-sam administration in 1994 as a figure from the civil democracy movement. Subsequently, he served as a National Assembly member and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, consistently demonstrating reformist tendencies within the conservative party with his rational and principled actions. This is a well-known fact. 

However, questions remain as to whether his socialist political ideology, which began with Marxism-Leninism, has been completely abandoned. In particular, his clear stance on investigating and eradicating fraudulent elections led by the Chinese Communist Party has yet to be clarified. 

This aligns with his past defense of Lee Jun-seok, who tarnished his own party and dismissed claims of fraudulent elections as groundless slander. Furthermore, his current actions of supporting Han Dong-hoon, who played a decisive role in the impeachment of the President under the guise of conservative unity, also offer insight into his true nature. 

Kim Moon-soo Has Not Abandoned His Socialist Value System

In 2008, although before the full extent of China's malicious actions became apparent, he also advocated for the construction of a Korea-China undersea tunnel to President-elect Lee Myung-bak, citing economic prosperity as the objective. 

 Kim Moon-soo during his time as a labor activist. [Photo = Yonhap News] 

Although it is known that Kim Moon-soo attempted to shift his direction from the left to the right, in my view, his belief system has not significantly deviated from a socialist value system where the state must actively intervene to regulate the free market system. 

This can be compared to the case of Cho Bong-am (also known as Chooksan), who sought to transition from communism to moderate socialism before liberation. 

Cho Bong-am's Actions Similar to Kim Moon-soo's

Cho Bong-am (1898-1959), in his youth, was a staunch communist deeply immersed in communist ideology while studying in China, Japan, and the Soviet Union. 

Through his association with Park Hun-young, he led activities of the Joseon Communist Party from 1925. However, in 1932, he was imprisoned in Shanghai for his role in rooting out communists and served seven years in prison. After liberation, he served as the director of the Incheon branch of the Committee for the Preparation of the Nation, led by Yo Un-hyung. 

In 1946, during the search of his office by the US Army's CIC (Counterintelligence Corps) in Korea, a confidential letter criticizing Park Hun-young was leaked, leading to a direct confrontation between them. This incident irreversibly damaged their relationship, and Cho Bong-am left the Joseon Communist Party in May 1946. He then announced a declaration of conversion, severing ties with the communist line and vowing to pursue a path of social democracy. 

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in Syngman Rhee's First Cabinet... Attempted North Korean-style Land Reform

Subsequently, he was elected to the first National Assembly as an independent in the May 10th general election in 1948. President Syngman Rhee appointed him as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in the first cabinet for the purpose of land reform. 

However, he proposed a radical reform plan that was almost identical to North Korea's system of expropriation without compensation and distribution without compensation, facing strong opposition from the Democratic Korean Party (Hank-min-dang), which was dominated by the landlord class at the time. Consequently, he resigned as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in February 1949. 

Later, under the leadership of Hank-min-dang and with the significant concession of Inchon Kim Seong-su, the grandson of Korea's largest landlord at the time, land reform through compensated purchase and compensated distribution, considered a world-class model, was successfully legislated. 

Operating as a Social Democrat, Professing to be a Pacifist

Cho Bong-am later joined the ruling Democratic National Party, was re-elected to the National Assembly, and then began his activities in earnest as a social democrat. Although Cho Bong-am professed to be a pacifist, in reality, he followed the North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's line of peaceful unification of the North and South. The truth of these actions was clearly revealed through highly classified documents released after diplomatic relations were established with the Soviet Union during the Roh Tae-woo administration. According to these documents, it was confirmed that he received instructions from Kim Il-sung in the form of a reply, "Maintain a moderate socialist line in South Korea," along with a modest amount of operational funding. 

During the investigation of the Progressive Party incident in the Syngman Rhee administration, Cho Bong-am's receipt of funds linked to North Korea was revealed. According to the detailed testimony of North Korean spy Yang Yi-seop, Cho Bong-am received $23,000 from North Korea at the time. This is equivalent to approximately 450 million won in today's currency. 

Even While Advocating Moderate Socialism, His Ideological Core is Communist

It was revealed that the peaceful unification line pursued by Cho Bong-am was ultimately a communist line, aligning with North Korea's claims. As a result, he was executed by the Syngman Rhee administration in 1959. 

Interestingly, a significant number of individuals currently active in the Chooksan Memorial Foundation support the Han Dong-hoon faction, which is identified as a betraying force within the People Power Party. Even though Cho Bong-am once belonged to Syngman Rhee's ruling party and espoused moderate socialism, the fact that his ideological core was communist cannot be denied. 

Similarities Between Kim Moon-soo and Cho Bong-am

However, what similarities and differences exist between Kim Moon-soo and Cho Bong-am? 

Despite the significant time gap of 53 years, the undeniable commonality is that both have their ideological roots in orthodox communism. This can be easily understood by observing the relationship between the Chooksan Memorial Foundation, composed of the younger generation, and Han Dong-hoon, and Kim Moon-soo's behavior in protecting Han Dong-hoon. 

Furthermore, just as Cho Bong-am eventually relied on Kim Il-sung's regime in North Korea, Kim Moon-soo has never directly criticized the Chinese Communist Party and, in this regard, is similar in that he supports Han Dong-hoon and Lee Jun-seok, who are friendly towards China. 

In other words, it can be inferred that Kim Moon-soo's statements about accepting the election results or supporting Han Dong-hoon were not acts of betrayal that changed his beliefs, but rather means to further solidify his own convictions. 

The Differences Between Kim Moon-soo and Cho Bong-am Stem from Cultural and Economic Changes

The differences between Cho Bong-am and Kim Moon-soo can be attributed to the cultural and economic backgrounds that have changed over time. 

Cho Bong-am broke ties with Park Hun-young to secure his political position and ultimately pursued a transition to moderate socialism as part of the left-wing united front tactics. 

Kim Moon-soo, having lived in an anti-communist environment deeply entrenched after the Korean War, adopted a strategy of being directly absorbed by the forces pursuing liberal democracy at the time to survive. 

In essence, while Cho Bong-am confronted Syngman Rhee, founded the Progressive Party, and maintained his character as a socialist, Kim Moon-soo, at least formally, transitioned to a full-fledged liberal. This can be considered the difference between the two. 

Individuals to Be Most Wary of in the Context of "War of Position" and "Hybrid War"

Currently, communism is covertly invading by concealing its outward appearance through strategies such as Antonio Gramsci's "War of Position" and the Chinese Communist Party's "Hybrid War." In other words, in this chaotic situation where all free countries worldwide are experiencing similar struggles, my argument is that individuals who claim to be liberal democrats should never be evaluated at face value. 

Looking at the People Power Party, the main opposition party which is now awkward to even call a liberal party, I feel that it cannot be sustained unless it purges individuals like Han Dong-hoon and Lee Jun-seok, who are dark forces leading conservatism to ultimate destruction. 

This nation, already in decline, cannot be revived by hollow slogans of expanding influence or calls for moderate integration. Furthermore, it is too late to expect Kim Moon-soo, who is already 73 years old, to change his political ideology. 

Specifically, Kim Moon-soo's stance of remaining silent even in the face of clear evidence and traces of fraudulent elections, which even a child could understand, is difficult to defend. Regardless of how he may claim to be a conservative, his evaluation is already set in stone since he has turned his back on core values. 

I strongly urge conservative citizens to re-examine and thoroughly understand Kim Moon-soo's identity and act accordingly. 

Kim Byung-joon, Co-representative of Professors for Practicing Freedom and Justice (Kyo-mo)