Kim Yong-bin, secretary general of the National Election Commission, noted on the 11th during the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol that "there was certainly no election fraud in the 22nd general election," and he added, "I believe that in reality, it would be impossible to manipulate the voting process."
On the afternoon of the same day, the Constitutional Court conducted witness questioning of Secretary General Kim in President Yoon's impeachment trial. Secretary General Kim was requested as a witness by the National Assembly's legal representatives. He is a former judge and was appointed as secretary general of the National Election Commission by President Yoon in July 2023. Secretary General Kim is also a college classmate of President Yoon, both being graduates of the Seoul National University College of Law, Class of '79.
When the National Assembly's representatives asked, "Is it realistically impossible to manipulate the voting data?" Secretary General Kim responded, "I think it would be impossible in reality." He explained, "The voter registry itself is not created by the National Election Commission; rather, the local government heads legally confirm it, and we are provided with the materials. That data is held by local governments, and if server data is changed, a cross-verification can be performed to ensure alignment between both sides, which reveals the same structure."
When the National Assembly's representatives followed up by asking, "Was there election fraud in the 22nd general election that the witness conducted as secretary general?" Secretary General Kim said, "I believe there was certainly none." He acknowledged, "While I admit the National Election Commission made mistakes in the past and that server security was weak, all of that has been improved in conducting the 22nd election." He also added, "If there are discussions about allegations of election fraud, I hope we can look into what happened in the 22nd election and what deficiencies existed, rather than past elections."
Additionally, Secretary General Kim stated, "From the perspective of election management, I thought it would be good to transparently disclose information, such as making CCTV footage available 24 hours a day or implementing procedures like the scrutinization system to ensure that observers can properly monitor the counting process." He expressed that it was regrettable as a secretary general that there are citizens who still believe there was election fraud.