People Power Party: "False Explanation on Election Fraud Allegations... Criminal Complaint Against Lee Jae Myung"

"An intentional and blatant lie... Crime of spreading false information"
"Lee has repeatedly claimed election fraud"

The People Power Party announced on May 24 that it would file a criminal complaint against Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, on charges of making false explanations during a televised debate the previous day regarding his past remarks about alleged election fraud.

Choi Ki Sik and Joo Jin Woo, co-leaders of the People Power Party Central Election Countermeasures Committee's Negative Response Team, stated, "During yesterday's TV debate, candidate Lee falsely explained that he was referring to election fraud in the context of the National Intelligence Service's manipulation of online comments, not fraud involving the manipulation of vote counting or ballot casting." They added, "This is an intentional and blatant lie, which constitutes the crime of spreading false information under the Public Official Election Act, and we will file a criminal complaint."

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Kim Moon-soo, the People Power Party presidential candidate, shake hands before the start of the 2nd presidential candidate debate for the 21st presidential election, hosted by the National Election Commission, at the KBS headquarters studio in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on May 23, 2025. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

The Negative Response Team of the People Power Party listed several instances in which candidate Lee allegedly asserted claims of election fraud.

According to them, Lee posted on his social media accounts, "This presidential election is a case of election fraud surpassing the 3.15 fraudulent election; there must be a special prosecutor to uncover the truth and punish those responsible" (January 28, 2015), "Manual vote counting is necessary to prevent vote counting fraud" (January 7, 2017), and "The worst election fraud in history, surpassing the 3.15 fraudulent election" (January 8, 2017).

The Negative Response Team pointed out, "Candidate Lee strongly asserted suspicions of election fraud, to the extent that the National Election Commission even issued a press release titled 'Strongly Urging Lee Jae Myung, Mayor of Seongnam, to Refrain from Raising Suspicions of Vote Counting Fraud.'" They added, "Candidate Lee has previously stated that there is an uncountable amount of evidence regarding this."

Previously, during the TV debate the day before, Lee responded to a comment by Lee Jun Seok, the Reform Party presidential candidate, who said, "Just as former President Yoon Suk Yeol discussed election fraud, didn't you also claim election fraud after the 2012 presidential election?" Lee replied, "When I spoke of election fraud, I was referring to the National Intelligence Service manipulating public opinion through online comments, so in that sense, I called it election fraud." He continued, "It is not about the manipulation of vote casting or counting, which is what former President Yoon or Kim Moon Soo, the People Power Party presidential candidate, are interested in."

Regarding this, candidate Lee Jae Myung told reporters on May 24, "It was such a long time ago that I don't remember exactly, but as far as I recall, I mostly talked about election fraud involving the National Intelligence Service's manipulation of online comments at the time." He added, "Because of such concerns, I said that immediate manual vote counting would be the surest way."