[Report] "Guard the Early Voting Boxes"... Late-Night Crowd Gathers in Front of Election Commission

10 p.m.: Citizens Take Turns Monitoring Early Voting Boxes
Some Clashes Erupt Amid "Election Fraud" Allegations
Doubts Resolved by Direct Observation on Site

"Election fraud! Election fraud!" At 10:10 p.m. on May 29, the first day of early voting, a man wearing a red cap and draped in a Taegeukgi (the South Korean national flag) shouted in front of the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission building in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. People in yellow vests looked at him in surprise. Passersby hurried through the area, wary that the commotion might affect them. When the man with the Taegeukgi began filming people’s faces with his camera, those in yellow vests protested. The man avoided their complaints and unfolded a fishing chair in front of the Election Commission building. On the left side of a police car sat someone in a yellow vest, while on the right sat the man with the red cap and Taegeukgi. What exactly happened in front of the Election Commission building in the middle of the night?

On the 29th, in front of the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission building located in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, citizens belonging to the civic group "Citizen's Eye" and a conservative YouTuber were watching the Election Commission building where the early voting boxes were located. Photo by Byungseon Gong

The early voting for the 21st presidential election was held from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. However, it did not end at 6 p.m. At 9:50 p.m., seven people wearing yellow vests were gathered in small groups in front of the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission building. They were members of the progressive civic group "Citizen's Eye," there to monitor the early voting boxes. They brought mats and fishing chairs, sitting and chatting, but whenever someone entered or exited the Election Commission building, they immediately began monitoring.

The seven did not guard the early voting boxes continuously for 12 hours from 6 p.m. until voting resumed at 6 a.m. the next day. Instead, applicants watched the boxes in shifts: 6-10 p.m., 10 p.m.-2 a.m., and 2-6 a.m. Those who signed up for the 6-10 p.m. slot had already confirmed that the early voting boxes from Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu were loaded into a vehicle and brought into the Election Commission. At 10 p.m., a woman stood up. "I’ll head in now. Thank you for your hard work!"

Citizen's Eye is a progressive civic group that began its activities during the 20th general election in 2016. Ahead of major elections in 2018, 2019, and 2020, they appeared on Kim Eo-jun’s podcast "Kim Eo-jun’s Dasboeida" to promote their election monitoring plans. For this presidential election, they recruited poll watchers and early voting box monitors.

On the 29th, Ryu Junghwan (34, male) was monitoring near the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission building located in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Gong Byungseon

It wasn’t only progressive-leaning citizens who came to monitor the early voting boxes. At 10 p.m., Ryu Junghwan (34, male), wearing a black cap and black clothes, skillfully set up his smartphone on a street barrier. He started a YouTube live broadcast, keeping the camera focused on the Election Commission. A woman watching the camera approached and asked, "Did you sign up for the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. monitoring shift with the Anti-Election Fraud Team?"

The Anti-Election Fraud Team is a conservative civic group organized by independent presidential candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn. Hwang and the group claim that election fraud has occurred repeatedly in South Korea. Ryu applied to join the election fraud monitoring team led by the Anti-Election Fraud Team and Liberty University. Although he would have to stay up all night from 10 p.m., he was confident. "I’ve been adjusting to staying up at dawn for the past three days, so I’m used to the time difference. I did this kind of monitoring during the presidential election three years ago when former President Yoon Seokyeol was elected, so it’s not difficult for me."

On the last day of early voting for the 21st presidential election, May 30, YouTubers supporting former President Yoon Seokyeol are filming in front of the early voting site in Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, near Yonsei University and Ewha Womans University. At the Sinchon-dong early voting site, the day before, there was a case where the line waiting to mark ballots extended outside the polling station after out-of-district early voters completed identity verification and received their ballots. 2025.5.30. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

With people of differing political views gathered in one place, minor and major disturbances broke out. The man in the red cap and Taegeukgi cape kept circling the building, claiming election fraud. During this process, some conflicts occurred, prompting police intervention. Those in yellow vests comforted each other, saying, "Don’t respond." This was not limited to the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission. That afternoon, a man in his 50s and a woman in her 60s, both members of the Anti-Election Fraud Team, were caught by police after entering the Guro-gu Election Commission building in Seoul and sleeping inside. They stated that they had entered the building to guard the early voting boxes.

Their reasons for being there late at night were similar yet different. Kim Haejung (50, female), a member of Citizen's Eye, came to the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission at 10 p.m. to personally guard the early voting boxes. Kim said, "There are many people claiming election fraud, but by monitoring like this, I want to show that the election is actually clean and fair. I was also concerned that conspiracy theorists might try to break into the Election Commission building." Another woman from Citizen's Eye explained that she had gone to the National Election Commission that morning to check the CCTV monitoring the ballot boxes.

Kim Geumsuk (54, female), who signed up to monitor the early voting boxes with the Anti-Election Fraud Team, came to expose what she saw as the Election Commission’s poor management. She argued that the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission was also guilty of mismanagement. The Election Commission shares a building with public housing. Although the entrances and spaces are separate, Kim Geumsuk claimed that someone could still break in. "The fact that the Election Commission is located in such a building is a problem in itself," she said. "Seeing the ballot boxes being poorly managed firsthand was shocking."

On the 29th, members of the civic group 'Citizen's Eye' are chatting in front of the Yeongdeungpo District and Dongjak District Election Commission building located in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Byungseon Gong

Around 11:30 p.m., those monitoring the Election Commission seemed to tire, and the area in front of the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu Election Commission grew quiet. Kim Haejung and other Citizen's Eye members took out chamoe (Korean melons) they had brought and began eating. Kim Geumsuk and other Anti-Election Fraud Team members sat on a bench, whispering in low voices that the country would collapse if things continued this way. The relatively young Ryu walked around with his camera, inspecting the building’s surroundings. The fourth floor of the Election Commission building caught his eye. "Only the side of the building is lit up. Why is that?" he said, filming the fourth floor with a suspicious look.

Around 11:35 p.m., a man in a purple top suddenly appeared in front of the Citizen's Eye members. Tensions were already high after the earlier shouting by the man in the Taegeukgi cape. The man in purple looked cheerful. "I’ve been going around Guro-gu monitoring for election fraud, but there are people guarding here! Thanks to you!" He thanked the Citizen's Eye members and left for another Election Commission building. Those in yellow vests looked bewildered.

On the 29th, Kim Geumsuk (54, female, left) is talking with people in front of the Yeongdeungpo District and Dongjak District Election Commission building located in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. She applied to monitor the early voting boxes through the Anti-Election Fraud Team but is wearing a yellow vest from the civic group Citizen's Eye. Photo by Gong Byungseon

Come to think of it, Kim Geumsuk was also wearing a yellow vest. When asked why, she replied, "The people over there gave it to me," pointing to the Citizen's Eye members. Kim Geumsuk said that thanks to Citizen's Eye, some of her suspicions about election fraud had been eased. "Honestly, I was worried that the early voting boxes might be swapped, but the people in yellow vests kept monitoring and confirmed there were no problems. Also, at the Mullae-dong Community Center polling station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, I counted the number of people entering to vote, and the number provided by the on-site Election Commission staff was almost the same."

Unintentionally, progressive-leaning citizens ended up resolving the doubts of those who suspected election fraud. Park Seongil (50, male), a member of Citizen's Eye, glanced over at Kim Geumsuk. "Either way, it’s good if we can prevent situations where election management could be poor." At midnight, this reporter said farewell to those still at the scene. Regardless of political leaning, people were receiving tangerines handed out by Kim Geumsuk.