The secretary general of South Korea's National Election Commission defended the integrity of the country's elections on Tuesday amid claims by impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol that votes may have been compromised.
Kim Yong-bin made his remarks while testifying at a hearing in Yoon's impeachment trial over the president's decision to impose a short-lived martial law on December 3.
Yoon deployed troops to the NEC during the martial law and later said the decree was necessary in part because the NEC had been unwilling to address concerns over election hacking.
"It is regrettable that the controversy over election fraud continues," Kim said, adding that the independent commission had taken steps to improve cybersecurity after vulnerabilities were found, including changing passwords and implementing multi-factor authentication.
Baek Jong-wook, a former official from the National Intelligence Service, testified that the spy agency had discovered vulnerabilities on NEC servers during an investigation in 2023, but said their probe was limited to computer security and had no findings on election fraud.
The Constitutional Court will decide whether to reinstate Yoon, or remove him permanently from office after the opposition-controlled parliament impeached him on December 14. Yoon separately faces criminal charges for insurrection, and is in jail.
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