Page 41 - Election Book-ENG

As evidence of the NEC’s stance towards those trying to examine
electoral processes in a particular locality, the NEC’s Chairman
for its Division 1 Cho Kyu-Young directly stated a recount was
out of the question and warned he would take “strong action”
against those who raised election fraud concerns.

Indeed, the NEC filed charges against the Citizens’ Solidarity
for Fair Elections for “distributing false facts” by posting stickers
encouraging people to vote on the day of the election (instead of
during the early voting period that many people deemed more
susceptible to fraud).

In March 2022 before the South Korean presidential election, the
NEC #led charges against Hwang Kyo-Ahn, Min Kyung-Wook,
and Gong Byung-Ho (a professor with his own YouTube channel
covering election fraud) for encouraging the voters to vote on the
day of the election and for highlighting the risks of early voting.

The judiciary and prosecutors appeared mostly uninterested in
pursuing election integrity cases, as were most of the local and
foreign media.

Indeed, the South Korean media, including the main so-called
‘conservative’ outlets have proven remarkably uninterested
in pursuing electoral fraud stories. Explanations range from
simple laziness at having to do the legwork necessary to uncover
behavior that is intended to be hidden to fear of being targeted
by the government and other parties that might be behind the
electoral wrongdoing. And in some cases the media are believed
to sympathize with the election manipulators’ objectives.

Challenges Facing the South Korean Electoral System - 2024 41