President Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering a public address at the presidential office building in Yongsan, Seoul. /Presidential Office
On the 12th, the National Election Commission (NEC) responded to President Yoon Suk-yeol’s allegations of election fraud by stating, “The claims of election fraud that have been raised multiple times throughout the election process have all been proven unfounded through the judgments of judicial authorities. Such allegations, driven by strong suspicion, amount to a denial of the election management system that led to the president’s own election,” strongly refuting the claims.
In a statement released that day, the NEC stated, “Through the President’s current address, it has been unequivocally confirmed that the unauthorized occupation of the Election Commission office and attempts to seize the computer servers by troops are unconstitutional and illegal actions. The NEC strongly condemns this and once again urges related authorities to uncover the truth of this incident, which poses a serious threat to democracy, and take appropriate legal actions.”
President Yoon reportedly declared martial law on the night of the 3rd, directing the deployment of over 300 troops not only to the National Assembly but also to the NEC. This was reportedly related to suspicions of election fraud in the general elections last April. In the current address, President Yoon raised questions about the fairness of the election system, stating, “During the inspection of the NEC system conducted last year, it was found that attempts by the National Intelligence Service to hack into the system could have easily tampered with the data, and the firewall was essentially non-existent.”
In response, the NEC stated, “President Yoon announced that he instructed the Minister of National Defense to inspect the NEC’s computer system to verify the allegations of election fraud, but this is either inaccurate or exaggerated.” The NEC added, “The National Election Commission, the National Intelligence Service, and the Korea Internet & Security Agency conducted a joint security consultation on the NEC’s information security system from July 3 to September 22 last year for 12 weeks. Our commission established a security consultation task force to provide and support the various information and materials requested by the National Intelligence Service to the fullest extent.”
The NEC further explained, “While some vulnerabilities were discovered as a result of the security consultation, no traces of election system breaches due to North Korean hacking were found. Most of these vulnerabilities were addressed with enhanced security measures before the 22nd general election.” They added, “Even if there is a technical possibility of hacking the election system, it does not necessarily lead to election fraud in actual elections. To turn a technical possibility into actual election fraud, numerous internal collaborators would need to systematically participate, providing system-related information to hackers, rendering the commission’s security monitoring system ineffective, and switching the actual ballots to match manipulated values unnoticed by many, making it a practically impossible scenario.”
Additionally, they stated, “In our country, voting and counting are conducted using ‘physical ballots’ and ‘manual public counting’ methods, and information systems and mechanical devices are merely auxiliary means. Moreover, a large number of clerks, related public officials, observers, and voters participate in the voting and counting process, and the results can be verified at any time through the physical ballots.”