South Korea ruling party in turmoil over election fraud claims

Internal divisions within South Korea's ruling People Power Party are deepening over allegations of vote manipulation in previous elections, potentially jeopardizing a planned public recount.

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Claims that the false input of voter turnout is vote count manipulation are a logical leap and agitation.

The core of the dispute lies in differing interpretations of irregularities found by the election commission. While the special committee investigating the matter, led by Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, has focused on the alleged falsification of voter turnout figures, Yoon has publicly dismissed claims of actual vote count manipulation as "agitation." He argued that manipulating voter turnout numbers is a separate issue from manipulating individual vote counts.

This stance has drawn sharp criticism from within the party. Choi Bo-yun, the party's senior spokesperson and a member of the special committee, countered Yoon's assertion, stating that if voter turnout figures could be falsified without leaving a trace, then the process of inputting and modifying vote counts for individual candidates should also be subject to scrutiny. Rep. Na Kyung-won, another party member, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that the committee's duty includes thoroughly investigating potential vote count manipulation.

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If the false input of voter turnout numbers could be made without leaving a trace, then there is no reason to exclude the process of inputting and modifying vote counts for candidates from verification.

Adding to the controversy, Rep. Ju Jin-woo, also a committee member, claimed that election commission officials had manipulated time-stamped data to pre-emptively input voter numbers, citing instances in past local, presidential, and general elections. He asserted that such "time machine" data manipulation was discovered in numerous polling stations.

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If the false input of voter turnout was carried out systematically to a considerable extent, it should be viewed as manipulation, and the vote count part should also be thoroughly investigated for manipulation.

The escalating conflict has cast doubt on the planned public recount of 2.47 million ballots from the Olympic Park polling station, initially scheduled for the 18th. Choi suggested that the recount might be postponed due to the ongoing political deadlock and the potential need for a special prosecutor investigation, which has not yet been launched. Rep. Ju expressed strong opposition to merely observing the recount process, advocating for a more robust investigation, possibly involving on-site inspections, if a special prosecutor is not appointed.

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The National Election Commission entered false voter numbers more than 1 hour and 30 minutes in advance, and this time machine manipulation input was discovered in 47 local elections, 26 presidential elections, and 44 general elections.