Yoon: "Possible Manipulation of Election Commission Data... Ordered Defense Minister to Conduct Inspection"

Urgent National Address Directly Explains Reasons for Martial Law Declaration

President Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering a national address at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the 12th. Photo by Yonhap News

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on the 12th, "This time, I instructed the Minister of National Defense to inspect the election commission's computer system."

In an emergency national address that morning, President Yoon stated, "There have been many more serious matters that I could not reveal directly until now, before making the grave decision of martial law."

President Yoon said, "In the second half of last year, there were hacking attacks by North Korea on constitutional institutions including the election commission and government agencies. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) discovered this and sought to check for information leaks and the safety of the computer systems," adding, "All other institutions agreed to have the NIS inspect their systems under their supervision."

He pointed out, "However, the election commission, citing its status as a constitutional institution, firmly refused. Then, when a large-scale recruitment fraud scandal broke out at the election commission and it came under audit and investigation, it stepped back and agreed to the NIS inspection, but only allowed a very small part of the entire system equipment to be inspected and refused the rest."

He continued, "When an NIS employee attempted hacking as a hacker, data manipulation was easily possible, and the firewall was practically non-existent," and added, "The passwords were very simple, like '12345'."

President Yoon said, "As president at the time, I was shocked upon receiving the NIS report," and questioned, "If the computer system managing elections, the core of democracy, is this flawed, how can the people trust the election results?"

He also said, "The election commission is a constitutional institution, and since judicial officials serve as commissioners, search and seizure or forced investigations by warrant are practically impossible," adding, "If they do not cooperate voluntarily, uncovering the truth is impossible."

President Yoon explained, "Ahead of the general election in April this year, we requested improvements on problematic parts, but it is unclear whether proper improvements were made," and for this reason, during this martial law, he instructed former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun to inspect the election commission's computer system.