On the 4th, citizens chant slogans in front of the second polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, opposing the removal of ballot boxes. [Photo=Yonhap News]

There are no records or testimonies indicating that President Syngman Rhee was aware of the March 15th fraudulent election. However, as president, Syngman Rhee took command responsibility and resigned. Syngman Rhee did not view the April 19th Uprising, which arose in protest of the fraudulent election, negatively, stating that people who remain silent in the face of injustice are no different from dead people.

The Democratic Party's propaganda, claiming that Syngman Rhee, who was confirmed as the sole candidate and elected, orchestrated the fraudulent election for his perpetual rule, lacks credibility, especially since the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, Jo Byung-ok, was hospitalized due to illness during his campaign and passed away while in the United States Army Hospital in Washington D.C.

• "Those who remain silent in the face of injustice are no different from dead people."

The March 15th fraudulent election is unrelated to the presidential election in which Syngman Rhee was elected. With Jo Byung-ok's death, Syngman Rhee's victory was already confirmed, so there was no reason for him to commit election fraud. Furthermore, even if the Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate, Chang Myon, had won, the government would not have changed.

In the vice-presidential election, which was conducted separately unlike the American running mate system, Lee Ki-poong of Syngman Rhee's ruling Liberal Party, who was trailing behind Chang Myon, orchestrated the fraudulent election.

The March 15th fraudulent election was a one-time act of fraud by Lee Ki-poong personally. However, the current allegations of election fraud are far more heinous crimes by anti-state forces, exceeding the March 15th fraud in that they involve the Democratic Party, pro-North Korean leftists, and suspected intervention by North Korea and China, and have continued for the past 20 years.

Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party are at the center of the allegations of election fraud over the past 20 years. Long tails are eventually stepped on. During the June 3rd local elections, a shortage of ballots occurred at dozens of polling stations in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, including Songpa-gu.

The National Election Commission stated that for Songpa-gu, ballots were printed for 50% of the total number of voters and that ballot shortages might occur due to high turnout at specific polling stations or low advance voting rates. However, the reason for the ballot shortage is tantamount to saying that some of the ballots, which should have been distributed according to the number of voters, leaked out for the purpose of election manipulation.

At a senior-aide meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House on the 4th, regarding the ballot shortage, he stated, "Related agencies must use all the authority and responsibility held by the executive branch to clearly identify the reasons for the problem and, if there is anyone to be held accountable, they must be clearly held accountable."

However, Blue House spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung stated that Lee Jae-myung's remarks "do not mean direct sanctions against the Election Commission."

The People Power Party demanded a halt to vote counting and a re-election. However, after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon secured a last-minute comeback victory over the Democratic Party candidate in the election count, the People Power Party dropped its demands for a halt to counting and a re-election. The Democratic Party also stated that it would hold the Election Commission accountable for its poor election management, but that there would be no re-election.

Kang Yoo-jung also stated, "The Election Commission must take this matter seriously and undertake its own thorough review and necessary follow-up measures." The People Power Party's attempt to attribute the ballot shortage to poor election management by the Democratic Party and the Election Commission is a ploy to cover up election fraud.

This matter is not something that the Election Commission can review "on its own." Investigations by prosecutors or special prosecutors are needed to secure the Election Commission's servers and to investigate not only the Election Commission but also election-related crimes by political figures.

People Power Party barely wins by overcoming manipulated figures

Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Party for Liberty and Innovation, claimed, "This is a meticulously planned, power-based election manipulation crime, and the numerous trails of manipulation have become too long, leading to this unprecedented catastrophe of ballot shortages – clear evidence of election manipulation."

[Graphic=Yonhap News]

The areas where ballot shortages occurred, such as Songpa-gu, are mostly areas where the People Power Party is dominant. There are allegations that in military units, soldiers' leave was completely prohibited on the day of the local elections, and they were forced to vote in advance. Furthermore, just like in previous elections, the June 3rd local elections are rife with suspicions of election fraud, including: △ ballots bundled like bricks made of memory-retaining paper that do not fold △ ballot papers with intact serial numbers △ ballots stuck together in dozens △ a large number of ballots from Ansan found at the Seongnam counting station △ discrepancies between the Election Commission's hourly advance voter turnout figures and the on-site count results.

Despite suspicions of manipulated elections, Oh Se-hoon's victory in Seoul by a narrow margin of 0.6 percentage points over the Democratic Party candidate means that Oh Se-hoon secured an overwhelming number of votes that surpassed the manipulated figures.

A re-election without advance voting would easily prove this. In a closely contested parliamentary by-election, independent candidate Han Dong-hoon was elected in Busan Buk-gap, and Yoo Eui-dong of the People Power Party was elected in Pyeongtaek. This appears to be an attempt to shake the People Power Party's mainstream faction. It is suspicious that election manipulators would favor the acceleration of internal division within the People Power Party due to pro-Han Dong-hoon lawmakers, leading to a weakened confrontation with the Democratic Party.

The core of election fraud is the manipulation of advance voting systems. After electronic manipulation, manipulated ballots are inserted into ballot boxes to match the numbers. Whether Election Commission IT staff directly manipulate the system or if there is hacking manipulation linked to China can be revealed through investigation.

Opinion polls conducted using samples provided by the National Election Commission, which is at the center of election fraud allegations, have limitations in accuracy and are also subject to manipulation allegations, but they can show trends. The reason why areas like Gangnam in Seoul, Daegu, and Gyeongbuk, which are strongholds of the People Power Party, are free from election fraud suspicions is that manipulating these areas would further ignite and make it difficult to extinguish suspicions of election fraud.

However, various opinion polls predicting a lead for the Democratic Party in Daegu and Gyeongbuk have been rampant ahead of the June 3rd local elections. This indicates the intention of election manipulators to manipulate even the strongholds of the People Power Party, as there has been no objection from the People Power Party despite ongoing election fraud. Nevertheless, due to the overwhelming support of voters in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, which surpasses the manipulated figures, the Democratic Party lost the elections for Mayor of Daegu and Governor of Gyeongbuk Province.

Even when unprecedented allegations of election fraud, such as ballot shortages, arise, the People Power Party, complacent with their narrow victories in their strongholds and Seoul, fails to raise suspicions of election fraud or demand re-elections, instead being led around by election manipulators and seeking petty gains.

Kim Moon-soo Covers Up the Flaws of His Old Comrades

In last year's presidential election, People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo secured 54% of the votes in the in-person voting, comfortably outpacing Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung's 34% by a 20% point margin. However, in the advance voting, he only received 25% of the votes, while Lee Jae-myung secured 62% of the advance votes, leading to a loss in the overall vote share of 49% to 41%.

This illogical discrepancy between in-person and advance voting turnout rates starkly contrasts with Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok and Min-nodang's Kwon Young-guk, whose in-person and advance voting turnout rates are nearly identical. Lee Jun-seok's in-person voting turnout was 9.64%, and his advance voting turnout was 10.34%. Kwon Young-guk's in-person voting turnout was 1.26%, and his advance voting turnout was 1.30%.

The enormous difference in advance voting turnout between Kim Moon-soo (25%) and Lee Jae-myung (62%) in the 2022 presidential election suggests that the Democratic Party, which failed to manipulate the election leading to President Yoon Suk-yeol's victory, overtly manipulated the election with a large margin last year.

There is a simulation that Yoon Suk-yeol's victory, with a margin of over 10 percentage points, was achieved because he secured more votes, and he won by 0.7% despite advance voting manipulation.

Although Kim Moon-soo won the in-person voting 54% to 34%, he would have needed to win by more than 10 percentage points in the in-person voting to nullify the advance voting manipulation and secure victory. However, it is virtually impossible for the People Power Party's presidential candidate to secure over 60% of the vote in in-person voting, as about 40% of the Korean political landscape is classified as leftist.

Regarding the investigation into the election fraud allegations that led President Yoon Suk-yeol to declare martial law, Lee Jae-myung stated during last year's presidential campaign rally, "It was election fraud, so why did I win? Are you saying I manipulated it? If I were to manipulate, wouldn't I ensure a decisive victory, not a narrow loss?"

The background to the statistically impossible and blatant discrepancy between the advance voting turnout rates of Lee Jae-myung (62%) and Kim Moon-soo (25%) and the in-person voting turnout rates of 34% and 54% in last year's presidential election is this. The reason Lee Jae-myung lost to Yoon Suk-yeol by a narrow margin of 0.7% in the 2022 presidential election was due to manipulation with a small margin, mindful of election fraud allegations. Yoon Suk-yeol's victory was the result of an overwhelming vote share that nullified the advance voting manipulation.

Instead of filing a lawsuit to nullify the election based on election fraud allegations, Kim Moon-soo accepted the election results and earned the nicknames Kim Seung-bok and Kim Cheol-bong. Instead of reflecting on his past as a student activist, Kim Moon-soo, a former student activist from a pro-North Korean Juche faction who proudly presents his background as a great career, covers up the election fraud allegations of his old comrades, the pro-North Korean leftists, with sophistry, such as stating he will file a lawsuit to nullify the election if concrete evidence of election fraud is provided, despite clear allegations of fraud. This is the reality of South Korea's deep-rooted pro-North Korean leftism, dating back to the original pro-North Korean leftist Kim Gu and the Juche faction host Kim Young-sam.

The reason the People Power Party's parliamentary seats dwindled to 107 is due to election fraud. In the 2024 general elections, over 50 People Power Party candidates won in in-person voting but lost due to significant vote discrepancies in advance voting.

These are predominantly incumbent members in closely contested constituencies in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. In these areas, a slight manipulation of advance voting can lead to victory for Democratic Party candidates. The People Power Party members who achieved narrow victories in Seoul and Gyeonggi constituencies actually overcame advance voting manipulation with a substantial margin of votes.

Election Fraud Began During the Kim Dae-jung Administration

The reason why Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye of the People Power Party were elected after the start of election fraud in 2002 during the Kim Dae-jung administration, through Roh Moo-hyun, is because the initial manipulated figures in the election fraud were not large, and Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye's vote shares overwhelmingly surpassed those of the Democratic Party candidates.

The key figures at the core of South Korea's election fraud allegations are Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. Upon arriving at Pyongyang Sunan Airport for the June 15th Inter-Korean Summit in 2000, Kim Dae-jung, violating security protocols, rode in Kim Jong-il's private car without bodyguards and held a 45-minute private conversation with Kim Jong-il.

According to media reports based on the content of the secret conversation obtained by U.S. intelligence agencies, Kim Jong-il instructed them to make Roh Moo-hyun the next presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.

In response to Kim Dae-jung's remark that Roh Moo-hyun's public recognition was lower than that of Chung Dong-young or Han Hwa-gap, Kim Jong-il cited Roh Moo-hyun's father's hometown being in Honam and Roh Moo-hyun's father-in-law's background as a former partisan, stating that public opinion and recognition can be overcome through propaganda and added, "Let's research election matters extensively with us."

As a result of the meeting between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il, electronic vote counting machines were first introduced in 2002, and Roh Moo-hyun, overcoming his competitors, was elected president in December of that year during the Democratic Party's presidential primary and the general election.

The electronic vote counting system, first introduced in 2002 during the Kim Dae-jung administration, was supplied and operated by companies like Gwanwoo Information & Communications, Hantel Systems, and SK C&C. However, individuals associated with these companies were prosecuted for bribery offenses at the National Election Commission.

During the trial, Ryu Jae-hwa, the representative of Gwanwoo Information & Communications, made a confession, stating that Kim Dae-jung, Lee Hae-chan, and Park Jie-won had ordered the production of fraudulent electronic vote counting machines. However, the prosecution did not investigate, and Ryu Jae-hwa died under suspicious circumstances. Subsequently, during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, issues such as the North-South communication network project, suspicions linking the Dasan Group and Hankook Electronic Voting Co., Ltd. to leftist governments, and suspicions of manipulating the Election Commission's network through Huawei's backdoor emerged.

The reason election manipulation by anti-state forces is possible is the confidence of the pro-North Korean leftist forces that they will never lose power. Despite the flood of election fraud allegations and demands for investigation, none—including Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party, the Election Commission, the Supreme Court, and even the People Power Party, the direct victims of election fraud—are coming forward to address the election fraud.

Even when clear evidence of election manipulation, such as ballot shortages, has emerged, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party, the People Power Party, the Election Commission, and most media outlets are focusing on "poor election management" instead of "election fraud" and are attempting to gloss over the issue.

If the logic of Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party, the People Power Party, and the Election Commission were applied, the March 15th fraudulent election, which triggered the April 19th Uprising, would also be considered poor election management rather than election fraud. Syngman Rhee, encouraging the students who participated in the April 19th Uprising, said that people who remain silent in the face of injustice are no different from dead people.

This is a reflection of the shameful descendants who, in a South Korea where justice has disappeared and people do not get angry at injustice, are ashamed in front of Syngman Rhee, who became angry at election fraud and led the April 19th Uprising, and the students who participated in it and whom he encouraged, and Syngman Rhee himself, who then resigned.

◆ Hwang Doo-hyong

Former Washington Correspondent for Yonhap News

Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Yonhap News