Ex-NIS deputy declines to comment on 'election fraud,' says not part of agency's investigation
Baek Jong-wook, former third deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, testified that the agency had identified a vulnerability in the National Election Commission's system during its 2023 inspection.
“The internet, internal networks and election networks should be operated independently, but there were connection points between them, making external intrusion into internal systems possible," he said at the seventh hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial on Tuesday.
However, he declined to comment on the possibility of election fraud, stating that "Whether there was any trace of election fraud or not is outside the scope of what we (the NIS) investigated.”
Meanwhile, National Election Commission Secretary-General Kim Yong-bin ruled out the possibility of the manipulation of vote-counting.
Mentioning the NIS investigation, he countered that the spy agency arbitrarily selected approximately 310 computers — only about 5 percent of the total 6,400 — due to time constraints, and that the inspection was not intended to prevent election fraud.
“If necessary, we are willing to allow verification of the server database. However, this cannot be done arbitrarily — it must be formally requested through the Constitutional Court or a court ruling, and if approved, we will comply," said Kim.
He added, “There was no election fraud in the 22nd general election (in 2024). …All these issues were addressed and improved for the 22nd general election. If election fraud is to be debated, it would be more productive to discuss what specific shortcomings existed in the 22nd general election and what incidents actually occurred.”
The country’s top cybersecurity expert and the election system chief were called to testify on allegations of election fraud, which Yoon has cited as the primary justification for declaring martial law.
Yoon claimed several times that his decision to send troops to the NEC on the night of his martial law declaration was based on the NIS investigation from July to September 2023. The agency had discovered issues with vote counting and the management system when it assessed the security of the NEC.
Despite Tuesday's arguments over potential election fraud, no concrete evidence or new testimony emerged to support Yoon's claim.
During the hearing, former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who has recently joined Yoon’s legal team, directly questioned NEC Secretary-General Kim.
He asked whether it was possible for ballots that had never been folded to appear during vote counting or recounts.
Kim answered, “(Such an issue) was already addressed in the 21st general election, and the Supreme Court’s verification confirmed that the ballots were legitimate. We have no choice but to trust the Supreme Court’s ruling, as they physically examined the ballots.”
Following the hearing, Yoon’s legal team issued a statement, saying, “The major opposition party and media outlets dismissed (election fraud) as a mere conspiracy theory and even labeled it as far-right extremism. However, today’s testimony confirmed that the system inspection revealed multiple issues.”
The National Assembly, however, argued that the election fraud allegations were “political propaganda” and irrelevant to the impeachment trial.
“The reason they persistently try to make election fraud a central issue in the Constitutional Court is to provoke far-right extremist supporters who blindly believe in election fraud,” said Rebuilding Korea Party Rep. Park Eun-jung, who is also a member of the Assembly’s impeachment prosecution team.
Following the court’s decision to not bring in suspended Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as an additional witness, Yoon’s impeachment trial will end Thursday with the eighth and final hearing.
A verdict is likely to come out in mid-March.
ddd@heraldcorp.com
