"What do you think we'd do if we didn't get the ballots?"... 'The Land' scene resurfaces amid 2026 local election ballot shortage [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

A scene from the SBS drama 'The Land' depicting election fraud is being re-examined in light of the ballot shortage during the the 3rd, 9th National Simultaneous Local Elections.

On the 4th, various online communities brought up a scene from the 2003 broadcast of 'The Land' again.

Netizens pointed to a scene from episode 121 of 'The Land,' in which political thug Im Hwa-soo (played by actor Choi Jun-yong) conspires with his subordinates ahead of the fraudulent the 15th, 1960 election.

In the drama, Im Hwa-soo said, "The Democratic Party will secure 40 percent of the total votes through early voting," and a subordinate asked, "We need to divert that many ballots to our side, but what if the citizens don't receive ballots? Will they just sit still?"

To this, Im Hwa-soo replied, "What would those ignorant citizens know? If the ballots weren't distributed, they'd just assume they weren't available."

The content in 'The Land' about deliberately diverting ballots to completely block voters' right to vote is being re-examined in connection with the ballot shortage incident during the the 3rd, 9th National Simultaneous Local Elections.

During the main voting for the the 3rd local elections held on the 3rd, an unprecedented incident occurred where citizens were unable to vote due to a shortage of ballots. On that day, prepared ballots ran out early at 14 polling stations, including Songpa-gu, Gangnam-gu, and Gwangjin-gu in Seoul, temporarily halting the voting process.

The Election Commission urgently transported additional ballots and took temporary measures allowing voters waiting on-site to vote after the official closing time.

In response to the incident, National Election Commission Secretary-General Heo Cheol-hoon held an emergency briefing at 9 p.m. at the Gwacheon National Election Commission headquarters, bowing his head and saying, "I deeply regret that this has damaged public trust and sincerely apologize."

However, the "40 percent early voting" mentioned in 'The Land' refers to the fraudulent activities of the 1960 Democratic Party regime, while the ballot shortage during this local election is reportedly due to a lack of printing capacity.

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*This content was translated by AI.