"FRAUDS" COMMITTED IN THE RECENT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN SK
SK MUST DEFEND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
AS ITS FOUNDING PRINCIPLE AND CORE VALUE
US COMMITMENT TO FORWARD DETERRENCE IN EAST ASIA AND INDO-PACIFIC
THEATRE TO ENHANCE SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE NEXT FIVE TO TEN YEARS
Washington, D.C. May 24, 2020 (ICAS) — A ninth new poll conducted by the Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS) looks at the characterizations of the recent general election of South Korea (SK) by Professor Walter Mebane of the University of Michigan within the context of a broader picture of the possible long-term U.S. security policy implications in East Asia and Indo-Pacific theatre.
Professor Mebane, a preeminent scholar specializing in statistics in political science, characterized the SK’s general election held last month a "fraud" in his article "Anomalies and Frauds in the Korea 2020 Parliamentary Election, SMD and PR Voting", in which he argued: "The eforensics estimates and EFT and spikes tests exhibit anomalies that strongly suggest the Korean 2020 legislative election data were fraudulently manipulated. The statistical findings alone cannot stand as definitive evidence about what happened in the election." To date, no credible academic paper has been documented debunking Mebane's observations.
Conducted to an ICAS audience on the Hill vis-a-vis this setting, the poll shows that 73% of the respondents believe that "frauds" might have been committed based on Mebane’s analysis, while 23% of them hold the opposite view.
When the respondents were asked to spell out what core values and founding principles they believe that need to be defended and upheld in SK, liberal democracy topped the list with 37%, followed by the market economy (17%), the rule of law (16%), human rights (15%) and the freedom of speech and press (15%).
Looking ahead, 68% of the respondents view that the US's commitment and responsibilities to forward deterrence in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific theatre will be substantially enhanced for the next five to ten years; 23% hold the opposite view.
When asked if the apparent security tension in the Taiwan Straits might impact the tenuous security balance in the Korean Peninsula, 59% replied positively while 41% replied negatively.
The survey was conducted from May 8, 2020 to May 20, 2020 via email with a moderate credibility interval. Supplemental graphic data are available on www.icasinc.org/strategy.html and www.icasinc.org/strategy/polling9.pptx.
Inquiry to ICAS@icasinc.org
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