No evidence of election rigging found, Korea's spy agency says

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No evidence of election rigging found, Korea's spy agency says

Published: 19 Dec. 2024, 16:30 Updated: 19 Dec. 2024, 17:02

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A person watches President Yoon Suk Yeol's televised public address in a waiting room at Seoul Station in Jung District, central Seoul, on Dec. 12. [NEWS1]

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) recently reported to parliament that it found no evidence supporting suspicions of a rigged general election during its security inspection last year.

According to a report on Thursday by the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, multiple NIS officials said the agency informed the National Assembly, following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised public address on Dec. 12, that it had found no evidence of electoral fraud for the April 10 general election during a joint inspection with the Korea Internet and Security Agency on the National Election Commission (NEC) from July to September last year.

Yoon, who had previously raised suspicions of electoral fraud even during his presidential campaign, regarded the accusation as one of the reasons for justifying his brief declaration of martial law.

“How can our people trust election results when the computer system that manages the elections — the very foundation of democracy — is in such disarray?” Yoon asked during the address.

“For this reason, I directed the minister of national defense to inspect the NEC’s computer systems,” he added, further noting a hacking attack by North Korea that was detected by the NIS.

In the NIS’s report, submitted upon the parliament’s request, the agency acknowledged that the NEC’s security system was weak compared to other institutions. Such a conclusion was based on a leak of confidential documents due to North Korea’s hacking of an NEC employee’s email account.

However, the NIS said it found no evidence of election fraud.

During the address last week, Yoon also criticized the NEC for refusing to undergo an inspection of its data system by the NIS following North Korea’s hacking attack on constitutional and government agencies. However, the NIS told the National Assembly that it conducted a security inspection upon the election watchdog’s request. It noted that the NEC had only refused inspection two years ago following a fire at the data center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, in October 2022.

The NIS clarified that the NEC requested a security inspection between May and June last year due to concerns over North Korea’s hacking attempts, although the NEC had previously carried out a self-security inspection, citing its status as a constitutional agency.

Regarding Yoon’s claim that he ordered the defense minister to inspect the NEC’s system during martial law because he was unaware of any improvements to the system despite his earlier requests, the NIS said it had confirmed the election watchdog’s follow-up improvements multiple times earlier in the year.

A person casts her vote in the general election at a polling station in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on April 10. [YONHAP]

NEC Secretary-General Kim Yong-bin said during a parliamentary inquiry at the Public Administration and Security Committee on Friday that the NEC acknowledged its insufficient response to security concerns and implemented “significant amendments” between January and March this year following the NIS's inspection.

However, the inspection did not confirm whether actual electoral fraud had occurred.

Speaking at a press briefing on the security inspection in October last year, Baek Jong-wook, third deputy director of the NIS, said the inspection was conducted to check if a hacking attack could penetrate the system, not to determine whether actual election fraud had occurred. He added that responding to such issues was the NEC’s responsibility.

Baek also noted that people and authorities should be “cautious” about “simply connecting the result of the security inspection with suspicions raised against the election.” The NIS’s briefing was also reported to Yoon.

Officials tally votes for the general election at a ballot-counting site in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, on April 10. [YONHAP]

Following the report on Thursday, the NIS reiterated its stance that it could not draw a conclusion on the matter of electoral fraud, citing the limitations of the inspection itself, as only 317 of 6,400 information technology devices, or 5 percent, at the NEC were inspected at that time.

The agency added that it had recommended the NEC improve multiple vulnerabilities in its security system during the inspection. It found that hacking attempts could manipulate data, such as marking voters who participated in early voting as nonvoters and vice versa.

On Thursday, the NEC also said that suspicions of election fraud are “allegations made without any proof.”

In a press release, the election watchdog described the controversy as an act that “undermines the foundation of the electoral system” and “incites social unrest” by “highlighting only fragmented aspects due to a lack of understanding of the election process.”

BY HA JUN-HO, CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]