A scene from the SBS drama ‘Yainshidae’ in which characters including Im Hwa-su plot election-rigging methods. This scene has recently been mentioned again online in connection with the recent ballot paper shortage. SBS ‘Yainshidae’ screen capture
The scene of plotting election fraud from the SBS drama ‘Yainshidae’ has resurfaced alongside the ‘ballot paper shortage incident’ during the 6·3 9th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections.
The episode that countless netizens have revisited is Episode 121 of ‘Yainshidae’, broadcast on September 22, 2003. It depicts political gangster Im Hwa-su (actor Choi Jun-yong) plotting fraudulent methods with his subordinates ahead of the March 15, 1960 rigged election.
When Im Hwa-su says, “The Liberal Party has decided to conduct advance voting for 40% of the total number of ballots,” one subordinate expresses concern: “We have to divert that many voters’ papers to our side, but if the public do not receive their papers, will they sit still?”
In response, Im Hwa-su answers, “What would those ignorant people know? If the papers do not come out, they will just assume they did not.” In the drama, the setup is that the papers are siphoned off so that the public cannot receive their ballot papers.
The post amassed hundreds of thousands of views within a few hours. The renewed discussion of the scene coincided with an incident during the 6·3 local election day vote on the 3rd, when voting was temporarily halted at 14 polling stations, including in Seoul’s Songpa, Gangnam, and Gwangjin districts, due to a shortage of ballot papers.
The election commission urgently transported the missing ballot papers and took steps to allow waiting voters to vote even after the closing time. At 9 p.m. the same day at the Gwacheon complex, NEC Secretary-General Heo Cheol-hoon apologized, saying, “We fully recognize our responsibility for undermining public trust and offer our deepest apologies.”
However, the ‘40% advance voting’ in the footage dramatizes a historical act of fraud perpetrated by the Liberal Party regime in 1960, and is a separate matter from this incident, which has been identified as stemming from an insufficient print run.
