Several unprecedented and peculiar scenes were captured during this June 3rd election.

First, there was the scene where Lee Jae-myung brought his ballot outside the polling booth, claiming his stamp was only half-pressed, and protested to the election official. No president has ever acted this way before.

Moon Jae-in, defying the instruction to fold the ballot in half, deliberately placed it unfolded into the ballot box.

At the Jamsil polling station, voters were turned away due to a shortage of ballots. Nationally, 140 polling stations experienced ballot shortages.

In a situation where he was isolated by protestors, a general civil servant, not an election committee member, stepped forward and suggested electronic voting as a solution, saying, "I can't do this anymore."

What do these situations signify? The recently co-published book, 'The Dandong Project,' by professors Roy Kim and Mi-young Kim, offers clues.

According to the authors, the peculiar events at the June 3rd local elections are not coincidental. The book emphasizes, "A roadmap for the introduction of a blockchain online voting system was already prepared during the Moon Jae-in administration in 2018. The series of events unfolding now should be seen as building the justification to implement that roadmap."

Dandong is a border city in Liaoning Province, China, on the banks of the Yalu River. Across the river lies Sinuiju, North Korea. In 2001, the 'Hana Program Center' was established in this city. This is where the entire story of the book begins.

The name 'The Dandong Project' naturally brings to mind the Manhattan Project. According to the authors, the Manhattan Project was to protect the free world, whereas The Dandong Project is to dismantle liberal democracy. While the names are similar, the directions are completely opposite. However, the book argues that their structures are surprisingly similar.

According to the book, one of the most powerful weapons in hybrid warfare is election interference. It involves undermining a rival nation's democratic processes from within. Without using military force, it can lead to the replacement of that country's leader from the outside. It can steer national operations in a desired direction, sow discord among allies, withdraw military bases, and change national strategies.

And all of this is done under the guise of 'democratic choice.' Because it appears to be the result of the people's own choosing, it is extremely difficult to find or prove any traces of external interference. The book dissects the specific mechanisms of this bloodless war of elections.

By Lim Yo-hee, Reporter