In Seoul, South Korea’s National Election Commission (NEC) Secretary General, Kim Yong-bin, defended the integrity of the country’s elections on Tuesday (Feb 11) amidst allegations by impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol that the voting process may have been compromised.

Kim made these remarks while testifying at Yoon’s impeachment trial, which revolves around the president’s decision to impose martial law on December 3. Yoon had deployed troops to the NEC, later justifying the move by claiming the commission had failed to address concerns about potential election hacking.

“It is unfortunate that the controversy over election fraud persists,” Kim said, emphasizing that the independent commission had taken steps to improve cybersecurity by fixing vulnerabilities, updating passwords, and implementing multi-factor authentication.

Baek Jong-wook, a former National Intelligence Service official, confirmed that the spy agency had discovered weaknesses in the NEC’s servers during a 2023 investigation. However, he clarified that their probe was focused solely on cybersecurity and did not uncover any evidence of election fraud. The Constitutional Court is set to decide whether Yoon will be reinstated or permanently removed from office after he was impeached by the opposition-controlled parliament on December 14. Meanwhile, Yoon faces separate criminal charges for insurrection and remains in jail.

His supporters have adopted the "Stop the Steal" slogan, originally used by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s followers, and hope Trump will advocate for Yoon. The former South Korean president’s defense strategy echoes Trump’s claims of election irregularities and threats from internal and external enemies.

While Yoon initially did not mention election fraud when declaring martial law, he later alleged—without presenting evidence—that North Korea had hacked the NEC. At a hearing on Thursday, Yoon’s lawyer, Bae Bo-yoon, defended the troop deployment, arguing that the NEC was subject to warrants under martial law. Another lawyer, Cha Gi-hwan, raised concerns about alleged Chinese interference in South Korea’s elections.

China’s ambassador to Seoul, Dai Bing, responded on social media platform X, insisting that Beijing strictly adheres to a policy of non-interference in other nations’ internal affairs. Meanwhile, in January, the U.S. military command in South Korea dismissed as "entirely false" reports spread by Yoon’s supporters claiming that U.S. forces had captured nearly 100 Chinese spies accused of election meddling.

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Lee Jin-man via Reuters