South Korean parties clash over June election recount
· UPIAug. 11 (Asia Today) -- South Korea's ruling and opposition parties remained divided Tuesday over the timing of a recount from the June 3 local elections, with the Democratic Party seeking to proceed next Tuesday and the People Power Party calling for the process to wait until a special counsel investigation begins.
A National Assembly special committee investigating ballot shortages and other election-management problems has tentatively scheduled a recount of ballots from a polling area in Seoul's Songpa district for Tuesday.
The Democratic Party argues that the recount should proceed as scheduled because the committee's operating period was extended specifically to allow the review to take place.
Han Byung-do, acting Democratic Party leader and floor leader, accused the People Power Party of repeatedly changing its conditions for allowing the recount.
"The People Power Party is effectively trying to delay even the re-examination scheduled for the 18th by saying it should be linked to the special counsel," Han said at a floor strategy meeting.
He said the opposition had first said the recount could take place once a special counsel bill was agreed upon, then said it should wait until a special counsel was appointed and was now seeking additional coordination over the schedule.
Han accused the opposition of using the controversy for political purposes rather than focusing on correcting problems at the National Election Commission and preventing a recurrence.
The People Power Party argues that conducting the parliamentary investigation and the special counsel investigation separately could create confusion over preserving ballots and other evidence.
It wants the recount postponed until the special counsel investigation begins.
At the same time, disagreements have emerged within the People Power Party over allegations that incorrect voter turnout figures were entered into election systems.
Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, chairman of the parliamentary investigative committee, said incorrect or false entry of voter totals and poor computer management should not automatically be treated as evidence that vote totals were manipulated.
"The fact that voter numbers were falsely or incorrectly entered or that there was poor computer management is completely different from the claim that vote totals for a particular candidate were changed to overturn an election result," Yoon wrote on social media.
He said election-management failures should be punished firmly but cautioned against conclusions that could undermine public confidence in the entire electoral system without sufficient evidence.
Yoon made a similar argument during the committee's third hearing Monday, saying it was a "logical leap" to conclude that manipulating voter numbers necessarily meant candidate vote totals had also been manipulated.
People Power Party lawmakers Kim Eun-hye and Joo Jin-woo strongly objected to Yoon's remarks, bringing the internal disagreement into public view.
Senior lawmaker Na Kyung-won also criticized Yoon's position during a radio interview Tuesday.
Na called his comments an abandonment of his responsibility as committee chairman.
She said investigators should leave open all possibilities, examine the evidence and then explain to the public whether manipulation occurred rather than ruling out a possibility in advance.
The dispute leaves the planned Tuesday recount uncertain as lawmakers debate whether the parliamentary review should proceed independently or be coordinated with the special counsel.
-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260811010003677