Page 24 - Election Fraud in Korea-ENG-KOR
P. 24

Obviously, the first test case concerning the allegation of large-scale election fraud was not
               properly handled by the public sector in Korea. It seems that more than half of Koreans lost
               trust in public election management system in Korea. It is no wonder that starting with the
               21st General Election on April 15, 2020, the 20th Presidential Election on March 9, 2022, the
               National Simultaneous Local Elections on June 1, 2022, the Gangseo district mayor's By-
               election on October 11, 2023, and the 22nd General Election on April 10, 2024, allegations of
               large-scale fraud have been steadily raised in various elections. Democracy in Korea is now
               in peril. One needs to analyze this situation in a broader and historical perspective.


               II. Analysis: On-going War between Honesty and Digital Fascism

                    Everyone becomes honest when he or she thinks or talks about a relationship with his or
               her own family members. This means that happiness in the family is based on the value of
               honesty. Honesty should also be the essential value for the state-citizen relationship. When
               people are knowingly deceived by their own government, they can never feel happiness from
               that governance and citizenship. Sadly enough, honesty is the value fading away in many parts
               of the world in this digital and mass media era.
                    What is happening in Korea in recent years goes beyond the level of a simple political
               struggle  between  conservative  and  progressive.  It  is  foreshadowing  the  era  of  organized
               deception  by  a  cartel  of  interest/ideology-sharing  power  groups  inside  and  outside  of  the
               nation. This era might eventually lead us to the so-called 'digital fascism'.
                    Fascism,  which  appeared  in  the  1920s  and  40s,  attempted  to  realize  the  complete
               solidarity and integration of the ruling class. The guiding ideology and fascist leaders were
               subject to enthusiastic worship, and criticism of this was unacceptable and dangerous. The
               system established by mankind to fundamentally suppress fascism, which served as a key
               factor in the outbreak of World War II, is a democratic procedure. The essence of a democratic
               system, whether liberal or social democracy, lies not in its "ideology", but in its "process". The
               principles and institutions established by the national community gain legitimacy through the
               domination of the democratic majority, and in order to do so, the principle of respect for the
               minority must be observed.
                    The question of fairness of the electoral system has suddenly been at the forefront of the
               very modern society of Korea in the last four years. This topic has also been raised at least in
               several other countries including the United States. Similar cases keep happening in many
               countries on the path of China’s Belt and Road initiative in which China is developing roads
               and ports in dozens of countries while building markets for Chinese exports. These countries
               include Turkey (2015), Iraq (2018), Iran (2009), Kyrgyzstan (2009), Kenya (2018) and DR
               Congo (2018).

                    The democratic governance of rule by majority can only be justified if the arguments of
               minorities  claiming  fraudulent  elections  should  be  sufficiently  and  promptly  verified  or
               disproven. Fair and honest examination of election fraud claims is the core of the principle of
               democracy. The South Korean government, the National Assembly and the courts have been
               thoroughly ignoring, for more than two years, people's ongoing protests and more than 200
               formal lawsuits against the fraudulent general election of April 15 2020 and then they have
               covered up those cases with an unscrutinized judicial verdict. They have proven themselves
               useless in democratic procedures.
                    Four  years  ago  in  Korea,  the  most  commonsensical  requests  to  examine  charges  of
               election fraud were blocked from mainstream information channels and framed as conspiracy
               theories and were quickly killed in the media market. It is no more secret that the then leftists’
               government of Korea has strong political inclination toward Chinese totalitarian leadership
               and  North  Korean  dictatorship.  The  ruling  party  was  trying  to  amend  the  constitution  by
               abandoning the principle of free democracy that has been the constitutional foundation of the
               miracle of Han-River. Many pieces of evidence of election fraud were not heard or investigated




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