In the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol, former Vice Administrator Baek Jong-wook of the National Intelligence Service and Kim Yong-bin, Secretary General of the National Election Commission, testified together regarding 'election fraud allegations.'
Former Vice Administrator Baek appeared as a witness at the seventh hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial held at the Constitutional Court on the 11th. When asked by a National Assembly representative about the possibility of election fraud, he explained, "I cannot speak about election fraud because that is not something we observed."
Former Vice Administrator Baek also said in response to a question from President Yoon's team, "(The security inspection by the National Intelligence Service) was limited to the system, and there was no connection to the election fraud issues at the time."
However, he noted that vulnerabilities were found in the National Election Commission following security inspections by the National Intelligence Service from July to September in 2023, and that there was a possibility of external hacking. He testified, "The security inspection revealed several vulnerabilities, and issues with insufficient security management were exposed," adding, "The internet, business network, and election network should be operated independently, but there are points of consolidation where the networks connect, allowing for possible infiltration from external systems."
Secretary General Kim refuted this by stating that the National Intelligence Service had arbitrarily selected about 310 of the more than 6,400 personal computers for inspection due to time constraints, and the inspection itself was not aimed at preventing election fraud. He emphasized, "However, if the server is attacked and manipulation of the voter list becomes possible, the election would be nullified, so server security is very important," noting that the security score improved from 36 points to 71.5 points as issues cited in the security consulting results were addressed.
After the hearing that day, President Yoon's legal representatives issued a statement saying, "The large opposition party and the media that sympathize with it dismissed this as mere conspiracy theories, and even instigated extreme right-wing sentiments," and claimed, "The testimony today revealed various problems that were confirmed through the verification of the actual system."
On the other hand, the National Assembly argued that the allegations of election fraud were 'political agitation' and not an issue in the impeachment trial. Park Eun-jung, a member of the National Assembly's impeachment prosecution team from the Justice Reform Party, stated, "The reason the Constitutional Court is trying to obsessively make election fraud-related issues a topic of contention is a political offensive aimed at stirring up the extreme right-wing asphalt support base that fervently believes in election fraud."