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Election commission considers complaint against observer who alleged Chinese interference due to 'Huawei wi-fi'

Published: 16 Apr. 2025, 14:00 Updated: 16 Apr. 2025, 17:12

A person walks into the National Eleciton Commission building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi on April 7. [YONHAP]

The National Election Commission (NEC) is considering filing a criminal complaint against an election observer who complained of possible Chinese election interference after reporting a Wi-Fi network labeled with the Chinese brand name “HUAWEI-76A5” during the April 2 Guro District by-election ballot count in western Seoul.

According to the commission on Wednesday, an observer from Liberty Unification Party candidate Lee Kang-san's camp claimed they saw the Huawei Wi-Fi name on their mobile phone at around 9. p.m. on the ballot counting day. The observer raised the issue with election officials and questioned whether “Chinese forces” were attempting to hack the ballot reporting system.

The Liberty Unification Party had strongly pushed allegations of election fraud after it failed to win seats in the April 10 general election last year.

When an election official asked whether the observer had turned on personal hotspot tethering and renamed the Wi-Fi network to "Huawei," the observer was fazed and did not offer a rebuttal on site, according to the NEC.

The NEC concluded that this was more than just a simple misunderstanding and investigated the circumstances last week, given that the word “Huawei” could become fuel for election conspiracy theories.

False claims that China manipulated early voting results using Huawei telecommunications equipment have circulated for several years among fraud conspiracy groups.

The NEC suspects the incident may have been staged by the observer or someone else.

“There is no connection between a Huawei-named Wi-Fi signal and our election systems,” an NEC official said. “Vote totals from each ballot-counting location are transmitted through a dedicated closed-circuit wired network, which is physically isolated from any external internet source.”

The NEC plans to conclude its internal probe soon and pursue legal action against those involved.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY KIM MIN-WOOK [[email protected]]