South Korea election official rejects impeached president's fraud claims

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - The secretary general of South Korea's National Election Commission defended the integrity of the country's elections on Tuesday amid claims by impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol that votes may have been compromised.

Kim Yong-bin made his remarks while testifying at a hearing in Yoon's impeachment trial over the president's decision to impose a short-lived martial law on December 3.

Yoon deployed troops to the NEC during the martial law and later said the decree was necessary in part because the NEC had been unwilling to address concerns over election hacking.

"It is regrettable that the controversy over election fraud continues," Kim said, adding that the independent commission had taken steps to improve cybersecurity after vulnerabilities were found, including changing passwords and implementing multi-factor authentication.

Baek Jong-wook, a former official from the National Intelligence Service, testified that the spy agency had discovered vulnerabilities on NEC servers during an investigation in 2023, but said their probe was limited to computer security and had no findings on election fraud.

The Constitutional Court will decide whether to reinstate Yoon, or remove him permanently from office after the opposition-controlled parliament impeached him on December 14.

Yoon separately faces criminal charges for insurrection, and is in jail.

Backers of Yoon have adopted "Stop the Steal" slogans popularised by U.S. President Donald Trump's supporters and said they hoped Trump would help their embattled leader.

Yoon's defence of his actions bears similarities to Trump's remarks citing possible voting irregularities and defending the country from enemies within and without.

While Yoon made no mention of election issues in his initial martial law declaration, he dispatched hundreds of troops to raid the National Election Commission (NEC) and later alleged North Korea had hacked the NEC, but cited no evidence.

At Thursday's hearing, Bae Bo-yoon, one of Yoon's lawyers, said the troop deployment to the NEC was legitimate because the commission is subject to warrants allowed by martial rule.

Cha Gi-hwan, another lawyer, raised concerns about China's interference in South Korea's elections.

In a post on X on Monday, China's ambassador to Seoul, Dai Bing, said Beijing "has all along upheld the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs."

In January, the U.S. military command in South Korea also denied as "entirely false" reports circulated by Yoon supporters that the United States had captured almost 100 Chinese spies accused of election rigging.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park, Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Bernadette Baum)