Lee Junseok Raises Allegation of "Despicable Prank with Forged Ballots," but They Were Actually Overseas Ballots

Lee Junseok, the leader of the People Power Party, is appealing to citizens for support for presidential candidate Yoon Seokyoul on the morning of the 28th at Dongdaegu Station Plaza in Daegu. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy, reporter Hwang Sumi] Lee Junseok, leader of the People Power Party, raised and then withdrew an allegation that a group was spreading photos of forged ballots in an attempt to interfere with early voting by conservative voters.

On March 1, Lee claimed on his Facebook page, "A group is spreading manipulated photos to stoke anxiety over concerns about election fraud and to interfere with early voting."

Lee explained, "On this presidential election ballot, the stamp is placed so that it covers the character 'pyo' (meaning 'vote') in the phrase 'presidential election vote'." He added, "The group trying to block early voting by conservative voters crudely forged the ballot, stamping it so that the characters 'tu' and 'pyo' are overlapped. Whoever is pulling this kind of trick is truly despicable," he strongly criticized.

However, the ballot that Lee claimed was manipulated was actually an overseas ballot for the 20th presidential election. According to the Busan Metropolitan Election Commission, the photo was taken on February 23 by an individual identified as A at a polling booth in an overseas polling station in Australia after completing their vote.

Person A was reported to the Busan District Prosecutors' Office on charges of taking a photo of their marked ballot and posting it in a KakaoTalk group chat and on portal site forums. According to the Public Official Election Act, no one is allowed to photograph a ballot inside a polling booth, and voters are not permitted to disclose their marked ballots.

Afterward, Lee deleted his previous post and uploaded a correction, stating, "The ballot I posted earlier was apparently an overseas election ballot."

Meanwhile, ballots stamped over both the 'tu' and 'pyo' characters exist not only for overseas voting but also for home voting. Home voting is a system that allows voters who are unable to go to a polling station due to physical difficulties to vote by mail from their residence.

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