Some Korean conservatives go full-MAGA in pressing election fraud claims

Min Kyungwook, who has been participating in a “stop-the-steal”-style campaign to root out alleged election fraud since he lost his parliamentary seat in South Korea’s 2020 election, feels he has a champion and role model in Donald Trump.

Since President Yoon Suk Yeol’s issued the martial law declaration on December 3 that led to his impeachment, a once-sidelined question has resurfaced at the forefront of national debate: At the heart of Yoon’s controversial decision was a pledge to investigate election fraud claims – allegations of irregularities that, according to the president’s supporters, have long tilted the political scales against the conservative camp.

Many conservative South Koreans including Min have doubled down on those charges. In the process they have identified with Trump’s MAGA movement, whose focus following Trump’s own loss in the 2020 US election was to try to discredit the election process in multiple US states – without managing to produce significant evidence of serious irregularities.

“Considering that the root cause of our present turmoil is election fraud that similarly affected President Trump,” says Min (whose current title is standing representative of the National Struggle Headquarters for the April 15th Fraudulent Election), “it would be immensely beneficial for conservatives here if the Trump administration were to expedite the investigation into US electoral fraud, hold those responsible accountable and reform the system accordingly.”

On the night of the South Korean president’s martial law decree, around 300 troops were dispatched to the National Election Commission (NEC) building to secure its computerized server – evidence that proponents see as a smoking gun.

While many South Koreans