By Na Jeong-ju
The association of student councils at more than 30 universities will issue a joint statement today calling for a thorough investigation into the hacking of the website of the country’s election watchdog during the Oct. 26 by-elections.
In the statement, they will express concerns that democracy has been imperiled by the website attack, which was apparently aimed at preventing young voters, who mostly favor opposition candidates, from checking polling stations.
They will also demand explanations from Cheong Wa Dae about the involvement of some close aides to President Lee Myung-bak.
Police have reported that key aides to two legislators from the Grand National Party had carried out the website attack. The prosecution is now investigating the case to look into whether there were any more heavy-weight political figures who orchestrated the website attack.
“It’s an unforgivable crime to hack the website of the National Election Commission (NEC) to influence elections. It has been revealed that a number of people from the ruling camp collaborated in the attack,” said Park Jong-chan, a representative of Korea University (KU). “Citizens must act to safeguard democracy and stop any possible attempts to cover up the case.”
The scandal has triggered greater interest in politics among collegians as the country is gearing up for the parliamentary elections in April and the presidential vote in December.
So far, student councils of most top colleges, including Seoul National University, KAIST and Yonsei University, have adopted the statement and vowed to step up their campaign to mobilize the people’s power.
The schools agreed to set up a joint monitoring panel to call for a thorough investigation and heavy punishment against those who orchestrated the ‘crisis of democracy’.
“The fact that presidential aides were behind the website attack suggests the Lee government can commit much more serious wrongdoings to affect the crucial elections this year,” a KU student, identified as Roh, said at the school’s website. “We should be awakened to make him pay the price with upcoming votes.”
Students are also upset about the alleged attempts by Cheong Wa Dae and police to conceal the truth.
It has been found out that police didn’t reveal suspicious financial deals between key suspects in the case when they announced the interim result of their investigation on Dec. 9.
Media reports also revealed that police chief Cho Hyun-oh spoke over the phone with Kim Hyo-jae, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, about the probe results just before they were made public. Kim then had a telephone conversation with former ruling party lawmaker Choi Gu-sik, whose secretary was deeply involved in the crime, to share the information.