Chuseok Midnight Raiders

In early morning hours of September 29, civil servants under orders from President Moon Jae-in attempted to secretly remove servers from the Korean National Election Commission headquarters in Seoul. The removal efforts came clearly at a time when they did not expect to be noticed as it was in early morning hours and during the Chuseok (Thanksgiving) holiday when nearly all businesses and government institutions are closed. However, Moon’s forces were confronted members of citizens’ groups who tried to block the removal of the servers. These citizen’s groups are alleging that Moon’s Democratic Party committed widespread election fraud in the April 15 national election with the assistance of Chinese intelligence services. Allegedly the servers were being removed to destroy evidence of the fraud. Riot police established a cordon around the building to prevent anyone from entering. The citizens’ groups are planning mass demonstrations in the next few days however President Moon has threatened arrest for anyone demonstrating, gatherings of more than nine people have been banned. Women have been particularly active in the anti-fraud campaign. The Moon Administration has grown increasingly unpopular due to its growing authoritarianism, restrictive economic policies and what is seen as its appeasement towards North Korea. The Min Kyung-wook a journalist-turned-politician of the United Future Party is leading the anti-fraud efforts, which have been criticized by some influential Korean political figures as being overly provocative and geopolitically dangerous. Moon’s supporters have dismissed the fraud charges as conspiracy theories. Some conservative pundits in the United States fear that Chinese interfered in the Korean elections as a “tune up game” in preparation of American elections in November 2020.