[Editorial] Korean students show how to protest ballot fiasco without resorting to conspiracies

Student councils at major universities around Korea issued a joint statement on the shortage of ballots at some Seoul polling stations during the local elections on June 3. Their statement is a legitimate protest against the infringement of the public’s political rights, the most basic of our Constitutional rights and the very foundation of democracy. The student councils also expressed their firm opposition to conspiracy theories about election fraud, stating that they “do not agree with claims designed to incite distrust in our system of democratic elections.” That’s welcome news at a disturbing time when some in the younger generation have been dallying with the far right. Student councils from 18 universities that are members of the Student Union Forum described the incident as “the state’s infringement of political rights” and demanded a thorough investigation and punishment of those responsible. But the student councils took pains to distance themselves from far-right groups that have been attempting to frame the incident as an example of election fraud. “The current obstruction of the basic rights of representative democracy must not be reduced to a political dispute,” they said. The forum also said in a press statement that it has nothing to do with a meeting with university students being organized by Jang Dong-hyuk, head of the main opposition People Power Party. According to a website that collates statements and posters that have appeared on 186 university campuses around the country since the ballot shortage occurred, a large majority (65%) have called for measures to prevent a recurrence, while just 6% have echoed far-right groups’ demand for a revote. University students place the emphasis on rectifying election management and assigning responsibility for the ballot shortage. Far-right politicians seeking to exploit that movement for their own ends deserve to be denounced. Given the political apathy for which today’s universities are known, the fact that student councils have produced a joint statement underscores the intensity of young people’s anger over the ballot shortage. But while students are outraged over the botched election management, they’re also alert to the possibility of their outrage being co-opted by far-right conspiracy theorists. That’s the kind of rational attitude that’s needed in Korean democracy today. But that’s also why the ballot shortage must not be dismissed as a mere administrative blunder. The state must take responsibility for thoroughly investigating the failure, disciplining those responsible, and d