[Politics, That Day...] The Presidential Election Recount Chaos That Only Added to the Humiliation of the Grand National Party's Defeat

Grand National Party Filed 'Election Invalidation Lawsuit' for 2002 Presidential Election, Then Publicly Apologized... "Humbly Accepting Election Results"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] ‘Politics, On That Day…’ is a series planning corner that looks back on Korean politics through the ‘recollection of memories’ related to noteworthy scenes, events, or figures.

On the 15th, the 21st National Assembly election was held, and officials are conducting vote counting at the counting center set up in the multipurpose badminton gymnasium in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

In elections, ‘losing well’ is as important as winning. If a political party or politician refuses to acknowledge their defeat, it can be seen as going against the will of the people. Although ‘vote counting manipulation theories’ are raised during major elections, actually raising suspicions of election fraud is another issue. If proven untrue, it can lead not only to the shock of defeat but also to criticism of irresponsible politics.

Regarding the 21st general election, a ‘pre-voting manipulation theory’ has been raised. The controversy has not died down as some conservative YouTubers’ claims have been supported by some members of the United Future Party. The assumption that the National Election Commission was involved in vote counting manipulation is hard to agree with for those who understand the election mechanism.

This is why voices of restraint are also coming from the United Future Party side. Even if it is difficult to easily accept election defeat, denying the results is never helpful when considering the party’s future.

On the 15th, the ballot boxes arrived at the counting center set up at the multipurpose badminton gymnasium in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where the 21st National Assembly elections were held. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

If general elections are this sensitive, what about presidential elections? Especially when a candidate was confident of winning but ended up losing, the sense of loss is hard to express in words. Not only the presidential candidate but also the party and its supporters naturally have a strong desire not to admit defeat.

However, refusing to acknowledge a presidential election defeat inevitably carries political risks. When it is time to recover from the shock of defeat and seek a path to revival, criticism for causing national division through ‘absurd stubbornness’ is unavoidable.

The recount commotion surrounding the 2002 presidential election is a case in point. The 16th presidential election on December 19, 2002, was a showdown between Roh Moo-hyun of the Millennium Democratic Party and Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party. The Grand National Party was confident of winning, but the final count showed Roh Moo-hyun with 12,014,277 votes (48.9%) and Lee Hoi-chang with 11,443,297 votes (46.6%). Roh Moo-hyun won by a margin of 570,980 votes.

Within the Grand National Party, opinions that it was difficult to accept the presidential election results continued. At the time, there were calls for restraint due to political burdens, but the hardline stance demanding a recount was not insignificant.

Eventually, five days after the presidential election, on December 24, 2002, the Grand National Party filed a nullification lawsuit with the Supreme Court, stating, “Various suspicions have been raised during the presidential election process, making a recount inevitable.”

On the 15th, the 21st National Assembly election was held, and officials are conducting vote counting at the counting center set up in the multipurpose badminton gymnasium in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

If the presidential election victory were nullified, the aftermath would be beyond imagination. This is why the court’s judgment attracted intense attention inside and outside the political sphere. The nullification lawsuit intensified the spark of political instability. On the other hand, there were evaluations that the Grand National Party had touched a choice it should not have. It was criticized as a self-inflicted move that added to the humiliation of the presidential election defeat.

What was the result? The Supreme Court conducted a recount of over 11.04 million ballots through 35 courts nationwide. On January 18, 2003, the recount results showed that Lee Hoi-chang’s vote count increased by 135 votes compared to the original tally.

Roh Moo-hyun’s votes decreased by 785. The decrease in Roh Moo-hyun’s votes was explained by the National Election Commission as being due to ballots classified as pending judgment during the recount, so there is a difference from the actual decrease.

Archive photo / Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

The ballots pending judgment were counted as 197. Even if these pending judgment ballots were ultimately counted as votes for Lee Hoi-chang, the changed number would be about 1,117 votes. Considering the victory margin of 570,980 votes, this number would not affect the outcome.

After the recount, the Grand National Party expressed embarrassment, saying, “We were humiliated twice.” The party leadership had to apologize to the public. Seo Cheong-won, leader of the Grand National Party, said, “We humbly accept the presidential election results cleanly and apologize to the people for causing some concern.” He also expressed the intention to take follow-up measures such as withdrawing the nullification lawsuit related to the Supreme Court recount results.

The 2002 presidential election led to a recount commotion but only brought humiliation rather than overturning the results. The bigger problem was that it left a dishonorable record in political history. The criticism that the party did not accept the presidential election results remains a blot on the history of the Grand National Party.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.