Page 24 - Election Book-ENG

government and congress so far: (i) the manual con#rmation
process will go ahead with regard to ballot papers upon being
sorted by ballot sorting machines, and then those papers
will be counted by ballot counting machines; (ii) only public
o"cials will handle ballot boxes and ballot papers; (iii) all
ballot boxes will be carried and transported under surveillance
by police o"cers; (iv) CCTV monitoring will be enhanced;
and (v) QR codes will be considered to be used on early voting
ballot papers. !ese partial reform measures have not been
welcomed by civil society groups that were disappointed.
Obviously, these changes are not essential or su"cient for
establishing a manual counting system nor do they rule out
various possibilities of electronic manipulation by digital
means. Introduction of the post-veri#cation systems seems
also necessary to verify the election results.

Obviously, the #rst 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 the 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.

24 Election Fraud in South Korea: Documenting the Truth