Lee Jae Myung Says "It Was So Long Ago, I Don't Remember" Regarding Past Claims of Election Fraud

Mentioned in 2017: "Surpassing the March 15 Fraudulent Election"
Lee Jun Seok: "We Cannot Have Another Election Fraud Theorist"

Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, stated on the 24th regarding the criticism that he had claimed the 2012 presidential election, in which former President Park Geun Hye was elected, was a fraudulent election, "It was so long ago that I do not remember exactly."

Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is speaking at the 2nd candidate debate for the 21st presidential election hosted by the National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission, held on the 23rd at the KBS headquarters studio in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

Meeting with reporters in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, before his campaign event on the same day, Lee said, "As far as I remember, I mainly talked about election fraud involving the manipulation of online comments by the National Intelligence Service at the time," and added, "Because of such concerns, I said that immediate manual vote counting would be the most reliable way."

On January 7, 2017, Lee argued on social media, "The last presidential election was a fraudulent election that surpassed the 3·15 fraudulent election. There was large-scale intervention by state agencies and even irregularities in vote counting," and added, "Many citizens are suspicious of computer-based vote counting, and evidence to justify these suspicions is emerging. We must completely block fraudulent vote counting by conducting manual vote counts at polling stations."

Lee Jun Seok, the Reform Party candidate, criticized Lee Jae Myung by attaching a Central Election Commission press release on January 8, 2017, saying, "The Election Commission must have been so troubled that they issued a press release to refute Lee Jae Myung, then mayor of Seongnam," and added, "Candidate Lee Jae Myung pioneered this area long before independent candidate Hwang Kyo Ahn became aware of election fraud. We cannot allow another proponent of election fraud theories to follow after one has already come."