Citizens demanding a 'fraudulent election and re-election' at Jamsil. ⒸHomiilbo

President Lee Jae-myung stated in a press conference on the 8th, regarding the protests against the ballot shortage during the June 3rd local elections, that he believed only "a dozen or so" people couldn't vote, and that it wouldn't have affected the election results. He admitted, however, that it might indicate a lack of "sovereign sensitivity." Was this intentional? Shouldn't we investigate if there were fundamental, structural problems?

"I suggested forming a joint investigation headquarters to speed up the probe," he also said. Regarding the claims of election fraud and demands for a re-election, he stated, "It's a bit different from the election fraud theory, though they are somewhat intertwined. It's about using something that is clearly not true as a means of mobilization through continuous incitement and brainwashing for political purposes." He argued that while there were deficiencies in the election management by the Election Commission, it was not election fraud.

Matters for the Election Commission's Self-Inspection are Not Subjects for a National Inquiry or Joint Investigation Headquarters Probe

Lee Jae-myung is the one who perpetrates brainwashing through continuous manipulation, sophistry, and propaganda and incitement based on clear falsehoods. The claim that only a dozen or so people couldn't vote is false, and the assertion that it didn't affect the election results is also false. It is common knowledge to anyone that the Election Commission acted intentionally and that there were fundamental, structural problems with the Election Commission.

Even if we concede for the sake of argument, it is only through an investigation that we can determine whether it was election fraud or simply poor election management. When the President himself steps forward and pre-emptively concludes that it was not election fraud but merely poor election management, how can we expect the joint investigation headquarters of the police and prosecution, already reduced to puppets of the Lee Jae-myung administration, to conduct a proper investigation?

Every word spoken is sophistry and propaganda that deviates from normalcy and common sense. The day after the press conference, Lee Jae-myung casually departs for a ten-day trip to Europe. This is a critical juncture where a president, even on an overseas trip, should return. These are the words and actions of Lee Jae-myung, who is rumored to be connected to the Gyeonggi Dongbu Alliance, the stronghold of Juche ideology, and who treats the people as "animals akin to Juche followers who unconditionally obey the North Korean communist group's orders."

Lee Jae-myung's order for a joint investigation headquarters is a result of the nationwide protests demanding a fraudulent election and re-election that continued for several days after the June 3rd local elections. On the 4th, the day after the election, Lee Jae-myung stated at a meeting of senior secretaries regarding the ballot shortage: "Relevant agencies must use all the authority and responsibility vested in the executive branch to clearly identify the reasons for the problem and hold those responsible accountable."

However, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung stated that Lee Jae-myung's remarks "do not mean direct sanctions against the Election Commission." Kang Yoo-jung also added, "The Election Commission should take this matter seriously and engage in thorough self-inspection and necessary follow-up measures."

Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party attributing the ballot shortage to poor election management is a ploy to cover up election fraud. This matter is not something for the Election Commission to inspect on its own, nor is it a subject for a national inquiry or a joint investigation headquarters probe.

A national inquiry would merely become a platform for Democratic Party lawmakers to conduct propaganda and incitement against the incompetent and clumsy People Power Party lawmakers. Only a special prosecutor, appointed impartially rather than by the majority Democratic Party, can determine whether election fraud occurred.

Any attempt by the Democratic Party to excessively limit the scope of a special prosecutor's investigation will only provoke strong public resistance. Through an investigation by a neutral special prosecutor, evidence such as the Election Commission's servers and ballots must be secured, and the election crimes of not only the Election Commission but also political figures must be uncovered. The ballot shortage is a case of the long tail of accumulated election manipulation crimes over the past two decades being caught, and its full extent can be revealed through a neutral special prosecutor's investigation.

The Truth Behind the Suspicions of Electronic Manipulation in Early Voting and the Ballot Shortage Incident

The reason for the ballot shortage is the electronic manipulation of early voting. After electronic manipulation, fabricated ballots are inserted into the ballot boxes to match the numbers. The phenomenon of ballot shortage occurred because the voter turnout in the main election exceeded expectations after the electronic manipulation of early voting.

After the ballot shortage led to voter protests at polling stations in Jamsil apartment complexes, masked police officers used violence against citizens, and ballots were illegally removed from ballot boxes without observers. Subsequently, vote counting took place at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium without observers, leading to large-scale protests against election fraud at the gymnasium.

The surprised pro-North Korean leftists infiltrated the protest at the Olympic Park vote counting venue, not believing in election fraud, but attempted to limit the slogan to demanding a re-election, using the greater participation of people who desire a re-election as a pretext. This is a consistent propaganda and incitement campaign by Lee Jae-myung and the pro-North Korean leftist group, claiming there was poor election management but no election fraud.

However, as time passed, evidence of election fraud increased. The number of polling stations with ballot shortages, initially reported by the Election Commission as 14 in Songpa-gu, Seoul, gradually increased, and within days, the Election Commission announced that there was a ballot shortage in 140 polling stations nationwide.

Further investigation may reveal that this number will increase exponentially, suggesting the possibility of nationwide vote manipulation. There are also suspicions that the Election Commission halted the distribution of ballots because it became difficult to adjust the manipulated figures due to a sharp increase in voter turnout after the early voting manipulation.

The refusal to distribute ballots in many polling stations, including Jamsil, even when ballots were available, is not due to the Election Commission's ballot shortage but is a fraudulent election method used by leftist regimes in South America, including Venezuela's Maduro, and is an election crime.

In Seoul, although there were a total of six mayoral candidates, there have been numerous testimonies that only Oh Se-hoon and Jung Won-oh received printed ballots. In Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, and Seongdong-gu, Seoul, and dozens of other polling stations nationwide, a strange phenomenon was reported where the early voting turnout rates for candidates were identical.

In early voting in Songdo 1-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 4,546 people participated, with Democratic Party candidate Park Chan-dae receiving 3,030 votes and People Power Party candidate Yoo Jeong-bok receiving 1,440 votes. In Songdo 2-dong, out of a total of 4,539 voters, the vote counts for Park Chan-dae and Yoo Jeong-bok were identical to Songdo 1-dong, at 3,030 and 1,440 votes, respectively.

In the integrated mayoral election for Gwangju and Jeonnam, there were 10 districts where the vote counts for the two candidates were the same. In Seongdong-gu, Seoul, specifically in Haengdang 1-dong, Haengdang 2-dong, and Sageun-dong, Oh Se-hoon and Jung Won-oh's early voting turnout rates were also the same at 45.79% and 54.21%, respectively.

The areas where ballot shortages occurred, such as Songpa-gu, are mostly areas where the People Power Party is dominant. There are suspicions that in military units, soldiers were completely prohibited from taking leave on election day and were forced to vote early. Similar to previous elections, suspicions of election fraud continue in the June 3rd local elections, with reports of ballot bundles that do not unfold like shape-memory paper, ballots with intact serial numbers, bundles of dozens of ballots, and discrepancies between the Election Commission's hourly early voting turnout figures and the on-site tally results.

Despite suspicions of election manipulation, Oh Se-hoon's narrow victory in Seoul over the Democratic Party candidate means that Oh Se-hoon received an overwhelming number of votes that exceeded the manipulated figures. This can be easily proven in a re-election without early voting.

The victories of independent candidate Han Dong-hoon in Busan Buk-gap and People Power Party candidate Yoo Ui-dong in Pyeongtaek in the National Assembly by-elections amidst fierce competition are easily understood to be preferred by those who planned the election fraud, as they shake the People Power Party's leadership and accelerate internal division among pro-Han Dong-hoon lawmakers, thus weakening their confrontation with the Democratic Party.

In last year's presidential election, People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo comfortably defeated Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung by 20 percentage points with 54% of the votes in the main election. However, with only 25% of the votes in early voting, he lost to Lee Jae-myung, who received 62% of the early voting, resulting in an overall vote of 49% to 41%.

Lee Jun-seok's main election turnout was 9.64%, and his early voting turnout was 10.34%. Kwak Young-guk's main election turnout was 1.26%, and his early voting turnout was 1.30%. This is normal. The enormous discrepancy in the early voting turnout rates between Kim Moon-soo and Lee Jae-myung indicates that the Democratic Party, which failed to manipulate the 2022 presidential election resulting in Yoon Suk-yeol's victory, openly manipulated the election with a significant vote difference last year.

On the day of the June 3rd local elections, People Power Party Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk demanded the suspension of vote counting and a re-election after ballot shortages occurred in several polling stations in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon continued to trail behind the Democratic Party candidate.

However, when Oh Se-hoon narrowly overtook at the final stage of vote counting, the demand to halt the count and hold a re-election was withdrawn. After nationwide protests demanding an investigation into election fraud and a re-election continued for several days, Jang Dong-hyuk proposed the introduction of a special investigation led by the People Power Party and a special law for nationwide re-elections and the abolition of early voting at a press conference on the 9th.

The Democratic Party is considering a national inquiry and a special investigation. The national inquiry would be a forum for propaganda and incitement, while the special investigation would extremely limit the scope of the probe, making it impossible to uncover election fraud and only creating the appearance of an investigation. They claim to hold the Election Commission accountable for its poor election management, but state that there will be no re-election. Some Democratic Party lawmakers are also making the outrageous claim of only holding a re-election for the Seoul mayoralty.

A Political Opportunity Arises for Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk, Who Stands at the Brink

The nationwide protests demanding an investigation into election fraud and a re-election, triggered by the current ballot shortage, represent a last political opportunity for Jang Dong-hyuk personally.

On the 5th, People Power Party Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk confronts police at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul. [Photo=Yonhap News]

If there had been no protests demanding a re-election due to the ballot shortage, lawmakers aligned with Han Dong-hoon, considered a second wing of the Democratic Party within the People Power Party, would have pressured Jang Dong-hyuk to resign, citing the defeat in the local elections, and Jang Dong-hyuk would have found it difficult to resist.

After Jang Dong-hyuk joined the "severance from Yoon Suk-yeol" declaration, the support for Jang Dong-hyuk, who joined the opportunistic "entus-pa" faction, was divided among authentic right-wing party members, making it impossible for Jang Dong-hyuk to overcome the resignation demands through another party member vote.

However, following the ballot shortage and protests, the People Power Party's approval ratings have risen as a backlash effect. Unlike most People Power Party lawmakers who ignore demands for a re-election, similar to the Democratic Party, Jang Dong-hyuk has regained the support of the authentic right-wing by demonstrating his clear stance in demanding a special investigation and re-election.

The reason for the support from authentic conservatives and party members for Jang Dong-hyuk is the lack of alternatives. If the Han Dong-hoon faction, considered the main culprit behind President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment, gains party leadership, the entire People Power Party will become a second wing of the Democratic Party.

Jang Dong-hyuk must be reborn through the ballot shortage incident and rebuild the "entus-pa" party, the People Power Party.

Jang Dong-hyuk must expel all People Power Party lawmakers who are primarily self-serving, ignorant, and incompetent, like Oh Se-hoon, a disguised right-winger from the Minbyun Lawyers Group whose objective is self-preservation rather than the future of the nation and people, and who deceived right-wing voters who reluctantly voted for him because they disliked the Democratic Party candidate, and like Kwon Young-se, whose identity is unclear due to his opportunistic stance during the impeachment of Park Geun-hye and Yoon Suk-yeol. He must rebuild the People Power Party into the authentic conservative party of Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee, which has been infiltrated by Kim Young-sam, the host of pro-North Korean leftists.

Jang Dong-hyuk must return to his initial resolve when he ran for party leader and refrain from making opportunistic decisions that waver between left and right. This is the path to political survival for Jang Dong-hyuk personally and the way to save the authentic right-wing party from pro-North Korean leftist attacks.

The reason why Jang Dong-hyuk, a political novice, became party leader, surpassing Kim Moon-soo, a People Power Party candidate who received 41% of the vote in the last presidential election, is because he advocated for investigating election fraud suspicions and the "Yoon-eogein" slogan, unlike Kim Moon-soo, who advocated for the center. If Jang Dong-hyuk loses sight of his initial resolve, he has no value as a politician. Jang Dong-hyuk's support base as a political novice is not the entrenched lawmakers who should be ousted, but the party members who despise the People Power Party lawmakers driven by self-interest.

Lessons from Hwang Kyo-ahn and Kim Moon-soo, and Jang Dong-hyuk's Task

Jang Dong-hyuk must learn from Hwang Kyo-ahn. Hwang Kyo-ahn, as Prime Minister and Acting President during Park Geun-hye's impeachment, and later as leader of the then-United Future Party, suffered a crushing defeat to the Democratic Party in the 2020 general election and resigned as party leader after the Democratic Party secured an overwhelming majority of seats.

Hwang Kyo-ahn ran in Jongno at the time and lost to Democratic Party candidate Lee Nak-yon, who received 58.3% of the votes, by receiving 39.9%. Until then, Hwang Kyo-ahn was similar to other People Power Party lawmakers who were incompetent, ignorant, and lacked fighting spirit.

However, after the 2020 general election, Hwang Kyo-ahn became convinced that it was a fraudulent election, organized the "Bubangdae" (a group investigating election fraud), took the lead in investigating election fraud suspicions, formed the Liberty and Innovation Party, and ran in the recent Pyeongtaek National Assembly by-election, where he lost with 6% of the votes.

If Hwang Kyo-ahn had shown the same fighting spirit during his tenure as leader of the United Future Party, his personal standing and that of the People Power Party would be different today. Jang Dong-hyuk should not forget that Kim Moon-soo, who immediately admitted defeat after losing to Lee Jae-myung in the last presidential election amid continuous suspicions of election fraud and did not file lawsuits regarding election fraud, and who lost to Jang Dong-hyuk in the party leader election due to his advocacy for the center, has ended his political career.

Most right-wing voters do not accept the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol led by the Democratic Party and the allegations of rebellion due to the declaration of martial law on December 3rd. They hope that the People Power Party will raise the issue of election fraud suspicions and improve the electoral system. This is why Jang Dong-hyuk became party leader.

The proportion of people who agree with election fraud suspicions exceeds half in overall opinion polls, and among People Power Party supporters, this figure reaches 80%. There is no reason for Jang Dong-hyuk to exist as party leader by pandering to opportunistic People Power Party lawmakers and agreeing to sever ties with Yoon Suk-yeol instead of fighting them. This is a betrayal of the party members and voters who made him their leader.

The People Power Party is a party that reflects the voices of its members and right-wing voters who support it, tasked with protecting the identity of the Republic of Korea based on liberal democracy and a market economy and driving out anti-state forces of the pro-North Korean left. It is not a tool to guarantee the privileges and comfortable lives of a handful of incompetent, ignorant, and opportunistic lawmakers who parasite on the People Power Party.

When Jang Dong-hyuk shows determination and suppresses the incompetent and ignorant Han Dong-hoon faction lawmakers, even if it means parting ways with them, other opportunistic lawmakers will not be able to shake the firm and powerful leadership system of Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk. They lack the courage to leave the People Power Party. They have no self-sufficiency outside of it.

During the impeachment trial of Yoon Suk-yeol, when about 40 People Power Party lawmakers gathered in front of the presidential residence in Hannam-dong to protest the prosecution's attempt to arrest the President and when anti-impeachment protests engulfed the nation, Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating approached 50%, and even despite election fraud suspicions, People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo received 41% of the votes.

However, subsequently, all People Power Party lawmakers, including the 40 who opposed Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment, declared a severance from Yoon Suk-yeol through a party caucus. Opportunists ride the tide and attach themselves to the stronger side. The quality needed in a leader is not to ride the tide but to have firm philosophy and conviction to pursue the greater good against the tide, even if it is difficult. Those who want to ride the tide comfortably are not leaders. Leaders create the tide and make others follow.

Jang Dong-hyuk's mission is to fight to uncover the election fraud suspicions that were the primary cause of Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment and to make the electoral system transparent. In addition, Jang Dong-hyuk must acquire firm right-wing beliefs and philosophy through studying right-wing ideology and policies.

In a recent media interview, Jang Dong-hyuk's assertion that he opposes removing unnecessary regulations that stifle the market economy, hinder corporate development, and oppress the lives of the people, such as his opposition to actively supporting the renewable energy industry, repealing regulations on large supermarkets, and abolishing the apartment price cap system, demonstrates a leftist way of thinking that cannot lead to becoming a right-wing political leader.

Sixty-five years ago, President Syngman Rhee resigned, taking responsibility for the 3.15 fraudulent election, despite being unrelated to it. In contrast, Lee Jae-myung, at the heart of election fraud suspicions, is engrossed in propaganda, incitement, and brainwashing with sophistry claiming there was no election fraud and only poor election management, despite the unprecedented occurrence of election fraud due to ballot shortages.

However, time is not on Lee Jae-myung's side. Lee Jae-myung must step down voluntarily, undergo investigation for election fraud, and cease his threats and schemes to nullify the charges related to his five pending cases: violation of the Public Official Election Act, incitement to perjury, suspicions of breach of trust and bribery in the Daejang-dong development project, suspicions of payment of lawyer fees, alleged misuse of Gyeonggi Province corporate cards, and illegal sponsorship allegations against Seongnam FC. He must submit to the trials. Lee Jae-myung cannot avoid strong national resistance that will shake the government.

◆ Hwang Doo-hyung

Former Washington Correspondent for Yonhap News

Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Yonhap News