[Editorial] Election-denier-in-chief
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has admitted to deploying martial law troops to the National Election Commission (NEC) at the behest of President Yoon Suk-yeol. That is, the president’s obsession with proving election fraud conspiracy theories circulated by far-right YouTubers led him to ransack the NEC, an independent constitutional institution.
To see a man without an iota of common sense and judgment bear the title of president of our republic is despair-inducing.
Kim informed the Hankyoreh on Dec. 5 that the troops were deployed to the NEC as “many members of the public suspect there was election fraud, so this was a necessary measure to alleviate those suspicions.”
He acknowledged that Yoon ordered the seizure of the constitutional body. Following Yoon’s illegal invocation of martial law on Dec. 3, around 300 martial law troops were sent to the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, the NEC’s training facility in Suwon, and the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission in Seoul’s Gwanak District.
These troops were mobilized before other martial law troops infiltrated the National Assembly. The soldiers entered the NEC’s control center, which is under the jurisdiction of the commission’s information management department. Those who erroneously believe that recent elections were rigged had long been calling for investigations into the control center, which manages data and servers related to elections.
While appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security on Dec. 5, NEC Secretary General Kim Yong-bin testified, “Around ten martial law soldiers entered NEC headquarters, confiscated the phones of five employees on the night shift and monitored all activities, including the admittance of people into the building.”
“100 more martial law troops arrived at 12:30 am on Dec. 4. Those troops stayed in the lobby on the first floor, occupying our headquarters for around three hours and 20 minutes,” he added.
Persons who identify with far-right political agendas have incessantly peddled election fraud, claiming that fraud was rampant during the 21st presidential election in 2020, the 2022 by-election and the most recent general elections in April of this year. According to the conspiracy-minded, the NEC was behind the losses suffered by the ruling party.
One of the YouTube channels the president is said to be a fan of continues to hawk election fraud conspiracy theories to this day, claiming that early voting in April’s general election was rigged. However, the Supreme Court ruled in July 2022 that any allegations of election fraud were “not rooted in objective facts,” and dismissed all charges.
Similar cases filed with courts have been dismissed or rejected, and police cleared five NEC employees of suspicions after they were accused of rigging the April 2024 general election.
The person responsible for leading the country was swayed by ungrounded allegations that have been disproved in court and decided to bring the “truth” to the light by mobilizing martial law troops.
What was the president thinking? Did he suppose that once he revealed that election fraud occurred, Koreans would suddenly understand that he simply had no choice but to declare martial law? Did he think that if he opened the way to another election, the ruling party would emerge victorious?
The level of delusion is astounding. While there had long been concerns that Yoon was in the thrall of right-wing YouTubers, this incident has essentially confirmed this to be true. This provides yet another reason as to why he must be kicked out of the presidential office as soon as possible.
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