Members of the minor opposition United Progressive Party bow in an apology for the irregularities in the selection of its proportional representation candidates in the April 11 parliamentary elections at a press conference earlier this month in the National Assembly, Seoul. / Korea Times file

By Kim Tae-gyu

A political storm is raging after allegations emerged last week that a recently elected member of the National Assembly was involved in vote-rigging to obtain a candidacy nomination from his party.

Lee Seok-gi, a representative of minor opposition party the United Progressive Party (UPP), has been accused by conservative elements in the media of spearheading irregularities in the voting that selected him as a party candidate in the April 11 elections.

Now, domestic biometrics company Suprema claims that such electoral disputes can be ended once and for all by using advanced fingerprint-recognition technology.

``Korea has complete data of fingerprints for all adults with voting rights. Hence, fingerprints are the most accurate way of identifying voters,’’ Suprema CEO Lee Jae-won said.

``Technologically speaking, there is no problem introducing such a system thanks to recent improvements made to its accuracy. If such a system is backed by legislation, we will be able to stage elections in fair and just ways.’’

All Koreans are required to register their fingerprints after turning 17 in order to receive a residential registration certificate. As a result, the nation’s data banks hold this information on the electorate.

Yet, critics have claimed that such details infringe on people’s privacy, and have urged the government not to use fingerprint information. Some are even against the registration process itself.

A system that fingerprints the electorate will record how each individual has voted, effectively denying people the secret ballot, the fundamental right in democratic elections, they said.

The system would also be vulnerable to hacking and therefore possibly enable the manipulation of election results.

Asked about fears over privacy and hacking, Lee maintains adequate measures can be taken. ``We can tackle such worries through legislation. For example, the National Assembly can ban the accumulation of voting records,’’ Kim said.

``Or, it can order the deletion of voting records after a period of time following an election. If we introduce the format and it wins social consensus, we can innovate technology to effectively prevent hitches.’’

Suprema has already exported its fingerprint-recognition system to some African states.