Around 5:30am on September 30, 2020, the National Election Commission (the NEC) removed the servers used in the April 15 general election from its building in Gwan-ak, which contain all the information related to the election that sent lawmakers to the 21st session of the National Assembly; the NEC pushed ahead with the task of transferring the servers to the NEC building in Gwacheon.
The Election Invalidation Legal Team of former National Assemblyman Min Kyung Wook has filed election invalidation lawsuits for 125 voting districts and also regarding the proportional candidates’ election in the Supreme Court, and has also filed for preservation of evidence with the servers; however, we strongly condemn the illegal and anti-civilization acts of the NEC, which resembles a special forces operation carried out at the crack of dawn on a long holiday weekend, and which trampled on the desperate protests of many citizens.
The request to preserve evidence of the servers, which is the core evidence regarding the digital manipulation of the election and the filing of the lawsuit to invalidate the 21st National Assembly general election was filed on May 7th. However, the Incheon District Court which is in charge of these cases dismissed the request for the preservation of evidence regarding the digital election equipment and related records, and in addition, the Court also dismissed the objections to the initial dismissal.
Around the same time, other requests for evidence preservation were filed in different cities and localities under the guise of carrying out pre-evidence investigation under the Civil Procedure Act, but these too were all dismissed, and now these cases are currently pending at the Supreme Court after the dismissal of the appeal, and a re-appeal.
In early June, the Election Invalidation Legal Team of former National Assemblyman Min Kyung Wook filed with the Supreme Court which is in charge of election invalidation lawsuits, requests for analysis of servers and digital election equipment, orders for document submission, fact-finding inquiry and application for request of documents, and application for verification (to be carried out in July), but in the four months that have now passed, the only reply we have received is from two days ago on September 29 regarding the fact-finding request for Hantle System (the Supreme Court dragged its feet for 3 months and only in mid-September did the Court send out a reply regarding the fact-finding request for Hantle System).
The Election Invalidation Legal Team has so far prepared and filed 7 briefs, and presented the digital manipulation as the overall and in-depth main point of the April 15 general election fraud, and the basis for the invalidation of the election. At the same time, the preservation of digital evidence, and the importance of and the need for investigating evidence has been continually asserted by our Team. However, the Supreme Court’s response has been consistent in its non-response, silence, and not carrying out any proceedings.
Eventually, the Supreme Court did order a preliminary explanation in mid-September, but it just so happened that the National Election Commission announced a business deal was reached for the move of their data processing center to happen from September 29th to October 4th, 2020. Also, their official argument is stated through a September 24th preliminary brief sent by the defendant, the NEC, that the assessment of the server should happen after the move of the data processing center at the Gwacheon Governmental Offices.
Immediately after the The Election Invalidation Legal Team verified the legitimacy of the aforementioned announcement (on September 25th, 2020), an emergency request of evidence preservation was filed with the Supreme Court to preserve the server as it contains the entire records of the April 15th election. The Team also filed additional documents and even attempted to request for a trial date four times in order to prevent key evidence, the server, of the lawsuit to be destroyed, thus requesting emergency actions be taken by the judiciary branch.
However, the Supreme Court has consistently been silent and unresponsive to the Legal Team’s fervent requests. Ultimately, the NEC initiated a shutdown to block access to their homepage on September 29th, 2020 at 6:00 PM, and soon after on the 30th at around 5:30 AM, the server that held the election records of the 21st National Assembly election held on April 15th was disassembled at the Gwan-ak Governmental Offices and pushed ahead with the move to the Gwacheon NEC building.
For 5 ½ months since the April 15th general election until September 30th, the server that held the records of the election was under the management of the NEC, so it is difficult to rule out the possibility that the integrity of the electronic records related to the election had already been destroyed during that time. Furthermore, the NEC should be clearing any suspicions of this illegal destruction, but they’ve actually committed the complete destruction of the server, the only evidence to clear any suspicions.
The NEC’s previous explanation that the move of the data processing center has nothing to do with the election data can only be considered false if one looks at the document submitted by the NEC on September 24th, that states the server must be analyzed after the move to the Gwacheon offices.
Serious concerns are being raised that it would be much easier for the NEC to manipulate, conceal, and destroy evidence of the server that holds the election records during the suspension of the NEC’s homepage that occurred on September 29th at 6:00 PM through October 4th than when the NEC homepage is being operated and connected to the network.
Also, it is impossible not to be concerned that during such an exposed and massive move of the data processing center between the Gwan-ak and Gwacheon offices that a vast number of the election-related records can be secretly deleted, changed, and misplaced.
Above all, it leaves the heaviest criticism for future history of the NEC and the judiciary over the fact that election-related electronic records, which should have been preserved immediately after the election, have been left vulnerable for five and a half months and that even traces of the damages to its integrity have been forced into a difficult situation to recover from.
The brutal act of evidence destruction on Sept. 30 has permanently damaged the only means to verify the integrity of the server, which is the key evidence of an election invalidity suit by the litigant unilaterally, and is a typical act of obstruction of evidence in the legal principles of litigation, which is nothing short of the NEC’s own justification for the existence of a reason for election invalidity and the claim of illegal manipulation. The court will have to declare the election invalid, considering that the legal representatives’ claim of invalidity related to the server has been proven as an effect of the law on the destruction of conclusive evidence and obstruction of evidence.
Strong protests from citizens have been left as evidence against the NEC’s server-damaging measures that would cause many black holes that could not be effectively identified by forensics in the future. During the physical movement of the server, an NEC employee was filmed working on a large amount of scanning work while the network was blocked. Four nonviolent citizens were arrested by the police during a desperate protest to block the server movement with their bare bodies.
The Election Invalidation Legal Team of former National Assemblyman Min Kyung Wook strongly urged the Supreme Court to conduct an international investigation into the server in an emergency manner and officially declare the nullification of the election, while condemning the NEC’s anti-lawful and anti-civilized acts that damaged and destroyed the server, which is key evidence of the invalidity of the election on September 30.
The amount of external pressure imposed on domestic experts is beyond imagination, as the nationwide fraud election could determine the fate of the ruling party. Moreover, it is common sense that it is difficult to expect professional sentiment to be made to reveal the truth through domestic investigations, given the fact that the government is doing damage to servers and destruction of evidence that fundamentally destroys the principle of legal procedures under the Constitution.
We urge the Supreme Court to accept the request of the election invalidation legal team to make a quick decision on how the audits of servers can be implemented by the international investigation team consisting of international experts on election audits, and to officially declare the nullification of the election in accordance with the legal effect of the fatal obstruction of evidence.
October 1, 2020
The Election Invalidation Legal Team of former National Assemblyman Min Kyung Wook
