If the NEC is innocent, it’s not a demonstration to turn a blind eye to,
Disclose all voting equipment and electronic data to the litigants!
The National Election Commission (NEC) at the Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province on the afternoon of May 28 said it will demonstrate the process of pre-voting, assuming that four candidates will run, and 35 political parties will provide proportional candidates, and 1,000 voters. In addition, it will explain equipment such as the security system of the NEC’s telecommunication network, the integrated electoral register system, voting paper classification, and ballot screening counters.
However, the NEC is also a litigant, given that the 21st National Assembly election invalidity suit has been filed with the Supreme Court in 125 regions across the country and that local election commissioners are in the process of proceeding as defendants, and that they are strictly controlled by the Central NEC.
In addition, Jo Hae-ju, a standing member of the Central NEC, and other key officials were accused by candidates, lawyers and civic groups of alleged irregularities in the election.
Therefore, the election-related electronic equipment and systems, such as pre-voting papers, issuing machines, connecting laptops, ballot screening counters, telecommunication networks, and central servers, are subject to the court’s verification or the prosecution’s investigation.
Under such circumstances, it is very inappropriate for the Central NEC to unilaterally set the conditions for ballot counting before a trial or investigation, and then publicly demonstrate or explain the process of voting in advance, which is the at the core of the alleged rigged election, to mislead public opinion and give unnecessary prejudgment to trials or investigations that have not yet begun in earnest.
The Central NEC shall clear up suspicions in accordance with international standards on post-mortem verification. Already, the issue of Korea’s alleged election fraud is emerging as an international concern.
1.) Proceedings by a reliable third party
2.) Prior decision of verification procedures and consistent application
3.) Securing substantial evidence
4.) If the Central NEC disregards international standards, such as rapid legal action, and only focus on unilateral propaganda and blocking of actual verification, the Central NEC will be recognized as a backward and closed, biased group, and will become a subject of international criticism and disgrace.
In addition, what the Central NEC needs to demonstrate or disclose in terms of finding out about the alleged election fraud is not just the basic level reported in the media, but the computerized operation and transmission of the ballot sorter, demonstration of the reading method of the QR code, the pre-voting ballot, and disclosure of in-depth information such as source files, programs, and log data.
Therefore, if the NEC is confident in the controversy of election irregularities, it should not exclude all electronic equipment from elections and files from voting imaging scans from the court’s evidence preservation list as it is now, but provide them with forensics that designate hash values first so that the court and the prosecution can fully verify and investigate them.
Furthermore, if the Central NEC is determined to push ahead with the demonstration, it should explain the truth behind the ballot-counting scandal at the Seongbuk-gap and Buyeo ballot counting stations, which are already known to the whole nation, and demonstrate why such errors occurred, and ensure that election invalidity litigants can fully verify and verify the checks on the lag, joint, and wireless communication equipment in the local video.
If this is not implemented, assembly member Min Kyung-wook’s election invalidation lawsuit agents want to clarify that the demonstration to the NEC, the one-sided litigant, is not only a temporary event to conceal the essence of the alleged election fraud, but also an act of hinderance in the trial and investigation.
In addition, regardless of whether or not the demonstration is held, the NEC should strongly urge the preservation of all counting equipment and computer data related to the pre-voting intact so that they can prepare for the future court’s verification process and the prosecution’s investigation.
27 May 2020
Assembly Member Min Kyung-wook’s Election Invalidation Litigation Group
Representative lawyer Seok Dong-hyun and other lawyers
Lawyer Seok Dong-hyun
Chief prosecutor of the Busan District Prosecutor´s Office
Chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor´s Office
Chief director of the Korean Immigration Service
Representative lawyer of the law firm Daeho
Book: As an expert Nationality Law, who drafted the Nationality Act, he published a guidebook on the Nationality Law in Korea and Japan at the same time. The book covers the contents of the Korean Nationality Act, which was first enacted in 1948, and now, in its 10th edition, includes the new Nationality Act, which has been in print since 2011.
Min Kyung-wook
Min Kyung-wook has been a journalist on public broadcaster KBS for 14 years and is a Korean journalist politician who was a news anchor at KBS 9 o’clock news. He served as a spokesman of the senior secretary to the President for Public Affairs of the presidential secretariat of Park Geun-hye, and a member of the 20th National Assembly belonged to the Liberty Korea Party. Now he belongs to the Future United Party.
Book: Min Kyung-wook from KBS News, in Washington
