Patriotic conservative youths march through the city protesting election fraud. ⒸHankook Ilbo 

Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, has his protagonist articulate the straightforward approach to astute investigation.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

This statement not only serves as a key to unlocking unsolved mysteries in his novels but also presents a wise method to resolve the election fraud controversy that is shaking our society today.

People often find themselves trapped by the complacent framework of common sense, thinking, "Surely such a thing wouldn't be possible in a modern democratic country?" and thus turn a blind eye to even the most obvious phenomena. However, logic follows clear evidence after 'the impossible has been eliminated.'

Evidence of 'the Impossible' Becoming Reality

The numerical statistics of election results and the bizarre ballots that emerged during the recount all point to the realm of 'the impossible' that Holmes spoke of. From ballot boxes that pass through numerous hands, perfectly crisp ballots, as if freshly printed, have been found. There are also countless physical pieces of evidence such as 'Rising Sun flag ballots' with smudged seals, 'arrow markings' that appear to be printing errors, and 'cabbage leaf ballots' that look like they are stuck together in pairs.

In addition, the extreme vote differences that favor only a specific party between early voting and in-person voting, which defy the law of large numbers, reach a point that cannot be explained by statistical common sense. Despite the numbers screaming and the evidence speaking volumes, the attitude of experts and investigators who remain silent behind their academic authority is nothing short of public deception.

In a typical criminal investigation, such evidence would immediately cast suspicion on the method of the crime. However, specifically in the context of elections, this evidence is dismissed as 'conspiracy theories' and relegated outside the scope of discussion.

Warnings from Global Precedents and Our Silence

We must not remain complacent in our self-perception as an 'advanced democracy' and turn away from the truth. In the past, countries considered to have less fertile ground for democracy than ours, such as the Philippines, Congo, Ukraine, and Bolivia, have seen the reality of election fraud, including electronic manipulation and ballot box stuffing, revealed through the rational doubts of their citizens. The reason they were able to uncover the truth was not by blindly trusting the system, but by relentlessly pursuing the impossible evidence that appeared before their eyes.

Now, we must set aside partisan logic and pose a grave question. Do politicians who remain silent in the face of mounting evidence that the integrity of elections has been compromised truly deserve to represent the people? Silence on election fraud is proof of an absence of the intellectual capacity to grasp the situation, the sense of justice to rectify wrongs, and the courage to face the truth. There is no reason why our brilliant nation should have politicians inferior to those in developing countries.

The Decision to Cut the Gordian Knot

The current political climate in South Korea is like a tangled ball of yarn, fraught with conflict and confrontation. The ruling and opposition parties are further complicating the knot with political rhetoric, ignoring the core issue. However, the more complex a problem, the simpler the solution often is.

Just as Alexander the Great swiftly cut the complex knot tied by King Gordius of ancient Phrygia, which no one could untie, with a single stroke of his sword, we too must confront the single thread that will unravel the political situation. Many failed to untie the knot, but the Great King's simple act of boldness paved a new path. The sword that can cut through the knot of South Korea's current political situation with a single blow is the 'investigation into the truth of election fraud.'

It is a common legal principle that a contract entered into by fraud is retroactively void. If the act of stealing the people's precious votes is protected simply because it wore the legal cloak of 'election,' then the law itself is reduced to an accomplice to crime.

While it is said that even a bad law is still a law, illegality can never be law. Election fraud is a clear illegality, a criminal act of fraud. Eliminating the impossible one by one and facing the truth of the remaining crime—that is the only way for South Korean democracy to be resurrected.

◆ Min Byung-gon, Author 

Political documentary writer 

Spokesperson for the South Chungcheong Provincial Party of the People Power Party