As sovereignty rests with the people in a democratic society, Koreans have the right and the duty to participate in a free and fair election and to monitor the process. Yet, we have an overwhelming number of questions about the fairness and accuracy of the vote counting in the 18th presidential election. Nevertheless, the Republic of Korea National Election Commission (henceforth, NEC), which is supposed to speak for and protect Koreans' rights, has chosen instead to cover up and tarnish the intention of the people with healthy doubts, leaving them in a deep sorrow and deploration about the situation. If there is any doubt at all, NEC must open all the data and the staff to the public in order to help people understand exactly what happened.

However, in their official statement published on Jan 1st, 2013, the NEC depreciated Koreans like us who want the electoral transparency and accountability, by calling them ‘a group of people who deny the result of the election,’ and further presented condescending advice that people should stop ‘trying to shake the basis of democracy.’ We articulate that this is nothing but an inappropriate and arrogant response from NEC, of which impartiality and fairness are expected as an independent constitutional organization. Besides, it is absolutely illogical for NEC to allege that we are requesting a recount without any objective evidence. Koreans have raised reasonable questions based upon testimonies and materials collected. NEC is the one that is keeping all the hard data, and thus it is the job of NEC to examine and prove the integrity of the election. Hence, expressing much regret, we fellow Koreans and electors overseas demand that NEC should accept the following items to restore its credibility.

1. It is NEC’s job to help people exercise their sovereignty, through fair and reliable management of an election. We require the NEC to apologize for their authoritative manner to Koreans who raised reasonable questions. The fact itself that many Koreans are raising questions about an election can only be considered as proof of NEC’s failure to earn trust from the people, and thus NEC is supposed to feel rather ashamed and look back on their job execution.

2. If NEC is indeed willing to accept the request for a recount as they publicized on Jan 1st, 2013, they must immediately make the following data available, which would be much simpler and easier than recounting: the register of all electors, the list of the actual voters, voter data per region and age group, the record of ballot counting at each office including the log data for data transmission, NEC's tabulating record and submission record to mass media, and the reporting data of each broadcasting company.

3. It is not important whether to call a machine a ballot counter or a ballot separator. NEC has to stop playing with words and face the problem by immediately providing the software of the ballot counters used and also the source code of NEC's central tabulating system and reporting system. A thorough investigation of the accuracy and reliability of those machines and systems should be carried out by a third party, and the results should be reported to the public. In addition, NEC must release all documentation regarding the justifiability of the use of an electronic ballot counting system or machine.

4. NEC claimed without any supporting evidence that the data from the central tabulator is not the final result and the data was inspected manually. If that is the case, NEC is ought to release the record of manual ballot counting and explain how it was possible then to announce the winner only three hours after the ballot counting started.

5. In order to verify NEC's claim, we would also like to review the record on whether and how the vote-counting observers were educated. Publicize the number of observers from each party at each vote-counting office.

Again, all the hard data is being kept and managed by NEC, and therefore it is NEC's job to prove the electoral transparency and accountability. We hereby sign this statement with the hope that NEC will regain Koreans' trust by withdrawing their authoritative attitude and releasing all related materials.

Jan 7th, 2013

Fellow South Koreans and Electors Overseas Who Want to Assure the Integrity of the 18th Presidential Election





대 한민국의 주권자인 국민은 자유롭고 공정한 선거에 참여하고 그 제반 과정을 감시할 권리와 의무를 지닌다. 이번 18대 대선 개표 과정의 공정성에 대해 의혹을 제기하는 수많은 국민들의 제보와 관련 정황 증거들이 봇물처럼 터지고 있다. 그러나 국민의 권리와 의무를 가장 중립적이고도 공정하게 대변하고 앞장서 보호해야 할 기관인 중앙선거관리위원회(이하 중앙선관위)가 오히려 국민들을 호도하고 사실을 은폐 조작하려 하니 안타까움을 넘어 대한민국 국민의 일원으로서 개탄을 금할 수 없다. 어떤 선거이든지 선거 과정에 일점이라도 의혹이 제기되면, 중앙선관위는 충분한 근거를 제시하고, 모든 관련 자료와 관계자를 공개함으로써 개표의 공정성을 제고하고 국민을 납득 시켜야 할 의무가 있다.