Supreme Court Dismisses Min Kyung-wook's 2020 April 15 General Election Nullification Lawsuit

Supreme Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by former Future United Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) lawmaker Min Kyung-wook, seeking to invalidate the 2020 April 15 general election.

On the 28th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) rejected Min's claim in the lawsuit he filed against the Incheon Yeonsu District Election Commission to nullify the National Assembly election.

The court stated, "The plaintiff's (former lawmaker Min's) claim that there was a violation of the Public Official Election Act in this election or that such a violation has been proven cannot be accepted."

Furthermore, the court explained the reason for dismissal, saying, "To carry out fraudulent acts as claimed by the plaintiff under the surveillance of numerous people would require not only advanced computer technology and hacking skills but also a large-scale organization and enormous resources. The plaintiff failed to prove who was responsible for executing the fraudulent election."

Min, who ran for the Incheon Yeonsu District seat in the 2020 April 15 general election, lost to Democratic Party candidate Jung Il-young and subsequently filed the lawsuit, claiming that "the April 15 general election was a fraudulent election conducted through QR code computer manipulation and vote tampering."

He argued, "The number of voters and votes do not match in early voting and on election day, and the early vote ratio consistently stands at 63:36," and "There are constituencies where the tally is missing, resulting in statistically impossible outcomes without manipulation."

However, the Supreme Court ruled, "Differences in the support tendencies of voters participating in early voting and those voting on election day, as well as the political landscape at the time of the election, can cause the early voting rate for a particular party's candidate to be higher or lower than the rate on election day nationwide, and this cannot be considered unusual or abnormal."

The Supreme Court also found no basis for claims that printing serial numbers on early voting ballots as QR codes constitutes grounds for invalidating the election or that forged ballots exist.

Over two years, the Supreme Court conducted hearings on this case. In December 2020, it carried out an on-site inspection at the Central Election Commission's computer center to verify servers, QR code-related devices, programs, and information used in the 21st general election. In June of the following year, it also conducted a recount of ballots in the Yeonsu District constituency.

On the day of the ruling, Min appeared in court in person. Immediately after the verdict was announced, some of Min's supporters caused a disturbance.

Right after the ruling, Min said, "I hoped there would be justice in this world, but there was not," and added, "This ruling will become a subject of ridicule for future legal professionals for a long time."

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Jo Jae-yeon) also dismissed the election invalidation lawsuit filed by Na Dong-yeon, mayor of Yangsan City and a former Future United Party candidate, against the Yangsan City Election Commission.

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