Criticizing the Film's Allegations Point by Point Through an Official Statement
On the 21st, election commission officials at the Yangcheon District Election Commission in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, are printing 'absentee ballots' for the 21st presidential election. Absentee voting is a method for voters who have difficulty voting in person due to being stationed far from polling places, such as soldiers living in barracks for extended periods. 2025.05.21 Photo by Yoon Dongju
On May 22, the National Election Commission (NEC) issued a statement regarding the film, which former President Yoon Sukyeol watched the previous day and which claims election fraud, saying, "We cannot help but express our deep concern and regret, as the film incites conspiracy theories about election fraud through negative and provocative footage." The commission pointed out that most of the allegations have already been addressed by the NEC or resolved through court rulings.
In its statement on the film raising suspicions of election fraud, the NEC emphasized, "Observers from political parties or candidates, as well as election commissioners recommended by parties, participate in every stage of the election process, and institutional mechanisms are in place to ensure fairness and security." The NEC added, "Since the process is transparently disclosed, there is absolutely no room for fraud." Voting and ballot counting in Korea are conducted using physical ballots and open manual counting, with information systems and mechanical devices serving only as supplementary tools. Therefore, the commission asserted that the suspicions raised in the film are merely conspiracy theories.
The NEC refuted each allegation raised in the film "Is Election Fraud the Work of God?" First, regarding the claim that "ghost voters can be created by hacking the integrated voter list," the NEC stated, "In order to manipulate voting and counting systems in an actual operating environment, it would be necessary to disable multiple security layers, such as various system authentications and intrusion detection and prevention systems, and to secure the help of numerous internal collaborators for each election-related task. Therefore, it is practically impossible to manipulate voting and counting data."
In response to the film’s claim that "a hacker could forge the NEC’s seal and illegally generate early voting ballots and QR codes to produce fake ballots," the NEC explained that this would only be possible if all institutional mechanisms currently in place to ensure fairness in the early voting process were removed, making such a scenario impossible.
Regarding "server leasing" and "server returns," the NEC explained that the number of users accessing the election information system increases sharply compared to normal times, so leased servers are used to ensure stable operation. For this presidential election, leased servers will only be used as backup equipment in the event of server failures. The NEC added that after the election, used servers are returned only after measures such as complete data deletion are taken to prevent information leaks.
Addressing the suspicion that "no security monitoring is conducted as the election approaches," the NEC countered, "We conduct integrated security monitoring 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," and added, "We have established a swift and systematic response system to prepare for cyberattacks and threats against all NEC equipment."
On the 21st, election commission officials at the Yangcheon District Election Commission in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, are printing 'absentee ballots' for the 21st presidential election. Absentee voting is a method for voters who have difficulty voting in person due to being stationed far from polling places, such as soldiers living in remote posts for extended periods. 2025.05.21 Photo by Yoon Dongju
Additionally, regarding claims of ballot forgery, such as ballots marked with the Japanese flag, the NEC reiterated that Supreme Court rulings have already proven that minor mistakes or simple mechanical errors cannot serve as evidence of election fraud.
In response to the suspicion that "the difference in vote shares between early voting and election day voting is evidence of early voting manipulation," the NEC explained, "The groups of voters participating in early voting and election day voting are not selected by random sampling, so the populations cannot be considered identical. Therefore, the claim that the vote shares by party or candidate must necessarily be similar or identical between early voting and election day voting is untenable, and court rulings on election nullification lawsuits have clearly confirmed this."
Regarding the claim that Chinese Huawei equipment was used in early voting machines to manipulate results, the NEC stated, "For the 21st National Assembly election in 2020, all wired and wireless communication equipment used was purchased from the domestic company LG Uplus through an open competitive bidding process by the Public Procurement Service, and there was absolutely no connection with Chinese Huawei equipment." For this presidential election, the NEC is using wired and wireless communication equipment, including that produced by KT in accordance with national standards, purchased through an open competitive bidding process by the Public Procurement Service, to address such concerns.
Finally, the NEC pointed out that the suspicion that "ballot sorting machines can be used to manipulate the vote count" is entirely unfounded. The NEC added, "Ballot sorting machines are not equipped with LAN cards, so they are completely disconnected from external networks, making hacking or manipulation fundamentally impossible."
On the 15th, officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission are posting election posters of candidates for the 21st presidential election on a wall near the Artist's House in Jongno-gu, Seoul. 2025.05.15 Photo by Yoon Dongjoo
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