Seoul protest on 're-election' led by far-right groups promoting election fraud theories, investigation finds

A protest in Seoul, initially framed by some media as a youth movement advocating for electoral reform, has been exposed as being orchestrated by far-right groups employing a sophisticated strategy to subtly introduce conspiracy theories about election fraud. The investigation by Hankyoreh revealed that the groups, while using seemingly moderate slogans, aimed to gradually "enlighten" participants about alleged fraud.

“

We make them come without political color, and then through search, they realize (enlighten) 'election fraud'.

One such group, the conservative youth organization BOSS, led by CEO Park Tae-geun, organized a rally near Hongik University Station on June 27. While publicly calling for "restoration of suffrage," internal strategy documents from BOSS's YouTube channel outlined a plan to attract individuals without explicit political leanings and then guide them towards believing in election fraud through search engines. Evidence showed organizers persuading citizens who expressed skepticism about election fraud to adopt the slogan "re-election," which they deemed more broadly relatable.

“

How about a slogan like 're-election' that everyone can sympathize with?

When a citizen questioned the need for re-election, an organizer suggested it was to "investigate the fraud." Similarly, when a child responded to a question about why re-elections weren't happening with "election fraud...", an organizer quickly agreed, saying, "Right, we need to investigate the election fraud." Park Tae-geun himself admitted that the "re-election" slogan was used because directly shouting "election fraud" alienated people, and the goal was to attract a wider audience to the Olympic Park protests, which were more directly associated with fraud claims.

“

Right, we need to investigate the election fraud.

Experts warn that this approach represents a "de-demonization" tactic by the far-right, aiming to lower the threshold for accepting extreme ideologies. Professor Kim Jong-woo of Yonsei University described it as "preempting an empty vessel" like "re-election" to gain an ideological advantage. Professor Jeon Sang-jin of Sogang University likened the strategy to a franchise model, with the Hongdae protest acting as a branch of the main Olympic Park event. He cautioned that the slogan "re-election," presented as a moderate alternative without addressing the root cause, could serve as a seed for growing election fraud conspiracy theories.

“

We used 're-election' that the whole nation can sympathize with because people leave if we shout 'election fraud'.