South Koreans, both at home and abroad, are signing a petition for the United Nations (UN). In the petition they are asking the UN to investigate the election fraud of their recent presidential election. This movement has been initiated by a group of the South Korean overseas voters under a name, 'the South Korean Fighters for Voter's Rights (F4VR)', and thousands of people have joined them by signing the petition. They all believe that the presidential election on December 19th, 2012 was completely fraudulent.
In this election Park Geun-Hye, who is a leader of the current ruling party, was elected into office beating the opposition, Moon Jae-In in a very close race (51% vs. 48%). The opposing candidate, Mr. Moon, has spent all his life and career as a human rights lawyer. He is widely respected for his honesty and moral integrity. Whereas on the other hand, Ms. Park is a daughter of the dictator who ruled Korea over 18 years (1961-1979) and those eighteen years were the darkest period in South Korean history. During his rule both democracy and human rights were almost completely diminished. People who criticized him or his policies, whether it was through the media or even privately, were arrested, tortured, and killed. The police, the courts, and the media were controlled by his administration.
The majority of Korean people strongly believe that this election was not managed impartially and in accordance with current laws. Up until the day before the election Mr. Moon was beating Ms. Park by 2-3%. Even in the exit polls Mr. Moon was more than 2% ahead of Ms. Park, until 3:00PM. Then, all of a sudden the exit poll at 5:00PM showed drastically different results. After 5:00PM Ms. Park was ahead of Mr. Moon by 2%. Mr. Moon received overwhelming support among people in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s where as Ms. Park was supported by those in their 50’s and 60’s. It is very unusual for poll results to change so drastically between 3:00PM and 6:00PM on the day of the vote. Traditionally towards the end of the election day (6:00PM) there is a rush of young people getting out of work to go vote, not older people who most likely do not work during the day. The fact that the results changed so drastically after 3:00PM suggests that there was foul play involved in the ballot counting.
The National Election Commission (NEC) has repeatedly claimed that the ballot counting had been done by hand, as stipulated in the Public Officials Election Act. However, evidence was found by many observers at the counting offices proving that hand counting was rarely done. They used an electronic ballot counter to count the votes. During the voting process many citizen observers witnessed that numerous votes of Mr. Moon's were counted as Ms. Park's or even just thrown out as invalid. In some areas it was reported that the total number of votes was more than the total number of registered voters. One citizen observer photographed 4 votes for Ms. Park folded together when they came directly out of the ballot box. The NEC performed a 'demonstration of ballot counting' showing 6,000 sample votes being counted by hand and then through computerized counters, in an attempt to appease suspicions. It took them more than two and a half hours to count just 6,000 sample votes in the demonstration. Based on this it became more convincing that the ballot counting time during the election had been far too short for this method to have been performed.
There were times when some of the details of the ballots counted, which was being done by the Election Commission, would be broad-casted on TV networks earlier than the reports the Election Commission themselves were releasing. The media also declared a candidate of the ruling party to be 'likely' to win only after approximately 20% of the votes had been counted when at the time the difference was only 3% between the two leading candidates. The difference of 3% stayed throughout the entire race until Park Geun-Hye, the candidate of the ruling party was announced to be a winner. Based on this fact many people believe that the election result had been decided before the election and had been programmed into the computerized ballot counters.
Another major ground for suspicion of the election fraud is the fact that the National Intelligence Services (NIS) intervened in the election. As a state agency, the NIS strictly prohibits its members from getting involved in an election by law. However, shortly before the election day the opposing party exposed a female NIS agent using internet postings to sway public opinions against the candidate of the opposing party while on duty. She used 16 different user IDs to post her writings slandering Moon Jae-In and to recommend her own writings multiple times. The police initially reported that the agent was not guilty of any such acts. Further investigation into her case was demanded because citizens kept uncovering more proof against her.
The NIS initially denied all charges and claimed that the agent was pursuing her own political interest as an individual. However, judging from the number of postings, replies, and the number of hours she spent on this it is highly unlikely that it was just one individual's leisure time activity. Soon after, the police found a second and a third accomplice with even more user IDs aiding in these acts as well. What the first female agent on duty did was indeed a serious crime and likely a small part of a larger organized action by the agency. If it is true that it was done systematically by the agency, the election results should be pronounced invalid. The responsibility for these illegal acts falls on the NIS, as well as on the current administration, and ultimately on Park Geun-Hye, the Elect from the same party.
Two hundred fifty thousand voters, domestically and abroad, signed a petition in January demanding a recount by hand, but their demand has been ignored by the election officials and the Parliament. A suit was filed by thousands of Korean voters to null the election and to demand a recount, yet a trial date has still not been set. Thousands of South Korean people have had many candle-light protests in the streets on these cold winter nights demanding a parliamentary investigation into the NIS' involvement in the election and a recount by hand. The F4VR have published 5 statements to expose the election fraud, both domestically and abroad. However, all these efforts have been bluntly ignored by the South Korean officials. The major media outlets, mostly controlled by the current administration, have also stayed quiet regarding these matters. If no action is taken soon against this matter the votes will never have a chance to be recounted.
The South Koreans now have decided to plead to the UN for help. They hope by doing so more people all around the world become aware of the injustice in the South Korean presidential election and the UN will assist South Korea in exposing the truth surrounding the election fraud.
Please visit the link below and sign the petition to help the South Korean people establish a true democracy in South Korea.
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