Bogus lawmakers

Those who caught cheating in the college entrance exam are prohibited from taking the test. If successful college applicants are found to have cheated on the exam belatedly, their scores are canceled. The rigging of primary elections is the same as cheating on the exam. Yet Lee Seok-gi and Kim Jae-yeon of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party, who were elected as proportional representatives through the rigging, have yet to be kicked out of parliament. Their party supported the results of the second criminal investigation into the crime in a meeting of the party’s national steering committee last month. But Kim and the party’s largest faction have defied the decision, claiming the investigation targeted Lee. The results of the investigation proved the crime and clearly showed that such bogus lawmakers must be expelled from parliament.

The investigation found that 58.8 percent of votes that Lee garnered in online voting for candidates for the party’s proportional representatives came from overlapping IPs. This means that more than half of the votes for Lee were manipulated. The votes casted through overlapping IPs are clear evidence of election rigging. Prosecutors who analyzed servers seized at offices of the progressive party said the primary election was completely crooked.

Lee led in online voting with 10,136 votes and all votes in North Jeolla Province went to him via overlapping IPs. In South Jeolla Province, the share of votes from overlapping IPs was 98.5 percent. This means there must have been organizational involvement in the online voting. According to an analysis of online voters, 1,197 of them were in their 60s, 305 were in their 70s, and two were in their 90s. This signals proxy voting. Seven bogus residential registration numbers and 11 non-existent mobile phone numbers were also detected. Assuming that votes were cast via overlapping IPs in other regions as well, prosecutors will expand the investigation.

Before the opening of parliament, Lee provoked the ire of the Korean people by saying, “More problematic is pro-America, not pro-North Korea,” and, “The (South) Korean national anthem is not a national anthem.” He added, “Even if North Korea attacks us, we should not respond with a counterattack.” Lee and Kim are testing the patience of the people with their pro-North comments following the election scandal. As pro-North figures pledged on Mount Gunja, must they ignore a sense of regret and shame to build a unified country under a confederate government led by North Korea? Lee and Kim must immediately resign from parliament. If they do not, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party should act immediately to unseat them. The people hardly want bogus lawmakers to serve as their representatives.