South Koreans question the result of presidential election

By Hyun Song (about the author)     Permalink       (Page 1 of 1 pages)

OpEdNews Op Eds 1/14/2013 at 08:19:27



Geun-hye Park, the daughter of a dictator Chung-hee Park who ruled South Korea in the 1960's~70's, was elected in the 18th president of South Korea on Dec. 19th, 2012. 

The voting rate was as high as 76%, which is much greater than the 54% turnout for the congressional election held in April, 2012, because Koreans realize the country is at a critical turning point. Geun-hye Park was supported mostly by the older generation and conservative groups, while Jae-In Moon, a human rights attorney, was supported by young people and progressive groups. 

After the election, many people have been questioning the integrity and accountability of the results; in fact, one citizen shouted in anger during a protest in Seoul, "We feel as if we are losing our nation. There are so many reasons to suspect election fraud."

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsDHg_w17qE)

Koreans are perplexed by the big difference between the exit polls and the final results because several exit polls showed that Moon would win. Many people also doubt the unrealistically smooth S-shape graph for the voting rate, where the ratio of the votes earned between Park (51.6%) and Moon (48%) didn't change after 60% of ballot-counting.

(http://i1.media.daumcdn.net/uf/image/U01/agora/50DF0B914F59270017)

The law of South Korea prescribes that all ballots should be counted by hand, but there have been testimonies that hand counting was not performed in many ballot count facilities. The ballots were only sorted by machine, which may assign ballots to the wrong place, .i.e. to another candidate by error. As of Jan 12th, 2013, about 230,000 citizens have signed a petition demanding a recount by hand, and some Koreans are even petitioning the White House.

(http://wh.gov/QhN2)

Koreans living overseas are also raising their voice to demand a recount by hand, and thousands of Koreans are filing a lawsuit to nullify the result of the presidential election. They also continue to hold candle light protests to express their rights as voters.

(http://cfile40.uf.daum.net/image/171BA14750F12E1A225D2B)

Mouseland with Korean subtitle

http://youtu.be/VdZeW9vG1xg

Samsung beats Apple in U.S. smartphone brand loyalty

Published : 2013-02-06 09:53
Updated : 2013-02-06 09:53

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top smartphone maker, unseated rival Apple Inc. in an index measuring brand loyalty of smartphone users on the iPhone maker's home turf, data showed Tuesday.

Samsung stole the No. 1 spot from the iPhone maker in an annual customer loyalty engagement survey of 49,000 Americans by New York-based market researcher Brand Keys.

The annual survey, in its 17th year, covers 400 brands across various industries, ranging from cars to luxury cosmetics.

Apple ranked second, followed by South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. Nokia Corp. and Sony Corp. tied in fourth place.

Apple also saw its market clout decline in the tablet computer segment. The iPad maker's ranking fell one notch to second place on par with Samsung. Amazon.com Inc. took the lead.

The two smartphone rivals both ranked first in the laptop sector, surpassing Asian brands such as ASUS, Sony and Toshiba, according to the index.

Samsung and Apple have been squaring off in patent tussles in courts around the world as they battle to gain dominance in the lucrative smartphone market.

In 2012, Samsung shipped 215.8 million smartphones, claiming 39.6 percent of the market. Apple came in a distant second with sales of 136.8 million units and a 25.1 percent market share, according to the data by researcher International Data Corp. (Yonhap News)

Probe widens over alleged election law breach by NIS agent

Published : 2013-02-04 19:16
Updated : 2013-02-04 19:16

An investigation of a spy agent suspected of conducting an online smear campaign against an opposition presidential candidate during the December election took a new turn as new evidence emerged that another person was involved.

Suseo Police Station said Sunday that five IDs made by the spy agent surnamed Kim were also used by a different person, whose name was withheld, in writing posts supporting President-elect Park Geun-hye and favoring other posts amiable to the president-elect.

The new suspect allegedly posted in different places with Kim’s IDs on a website called Today’s Humor, the one used by Kim in her alleged operations.

“The police have notified the person to appear in front of the police as a reference,” a police official said.

Around three months prior to the presidential election, Kim allegedly wrote 100 posts using more than 16 IDs.

Kim also clicked the “approval” buttons on the posts that supported the current government, the ruling party and President-elect Park, but pressed “objection” buttons on other posts unfavorable toward them, according to the police.

She clicked the “objection” button on posts supportive of the opposition party and previous left-leaning presidents allegedly to keep them from becoming the most liked on the website and to vilify the opposition.

The person scheduled to appear soon at the police for interrogation also wrote posts and clicked the same approval/objection buttons as Kim did. The person also supported posts made by Kim, said the police.

The police are now investigating the content of his posts.

Meanwhile, Kim has filed lawsuits against the police and the operator of Today’s Humor for leaking her personal information to a reporter whom she has also filed charges against for checking log files on the website.

Kim has also sued internet users who searched her writings on the internet using her name and resident registration number.

While the investigation was under way, investigation chief Kwon Eun-hee at Suseo Police Station has been transferred to a different police station raising suspicions of Kwon’s influence on the investigation.

“(In order to not hinder the investigation) Kwon will work together with the new chief investigator until the end of the case,” Seoul District Police Agency said.

The main opposition party ratcheted up criticism against the alleged involvement of the NIS in the presidential election.

“It is hard to believe that a female in her 20s coordinated all of these schemes and made the decisions. There must be a mastermind behind all of this,” said DUP floor leader Park Ki-choon on a radio program, calling for a parliamentary investigation.

The DUP demanded the nation’s police chief Kim Ki-yong resign for releasing incomplete results of the investigation before the presidential election which, the DUP insists, influenced the election results.

The police had initially reported that there were no ill-intended writings by the agent Kim relevant to the presidential election found, but later said evidence that Kim put up some postings existed.

Most recently the police said Kim posted 120 writings about political issues and social affairs prior to the election.

“The police have not changed words but kept finding new facts as the investigation continues,” said Police chief Kim Ki-Yong, adding that the transfer of the investigation chief is just a regular reshuffle.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)

Police chief denies cover-up attempt on NIS investigation By Jun Ji-hye The National Police Agency (NPA) said Monday that officers did not cover up or fabricate the results of an investigation into an intelligence agent who was under suspicion of having intervened in the presidential election. “We did not conceal or distort the investigation result. Prosecutors will investigate it again after we send the case to the public prosecutor's office and even a parliament investigation is being pushed forward,” said Kim Ki-yong, chief of the NPA. Speaking at a regular news conference, Kim denied that police attempted to hide the fact that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) official, identified only by her surname Kim, posted a total of 120 online posts related to political and social issues ahead of the election. “Each person has a different interpretation on what is related to the election. The Police didn’t change its words. Just fresh facts have been uncovered while the investigation was ongoing,” he said. When the election was looming in December, the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) claimed that the NIS agent conducted an unauthorized online campaign against its former candidate Moon Jae-in. The police said in an interim announcement that they didn’t find any evidence indicating the agent wrote comments critical of Moon. They later added that she posted some messages but those were all about private matters. The police eventually admitted in the latest announcement that the agent posted 120 articles using 11 user IDs supporting the Lee Myung-bak administration and the ruling Saenuri Party, and criticizing Moon. jjh@ktimes.co.kr,