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Asia Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Asia Times
Mismanaged early voting stirs voter distrust in S Korea election
Early voting for South Korea's 2025 presidential election took place on May 29 and 30 but, as in previous years, it was marred by troubling irregularities and signs of mismanagement. In past presidential and general elections, the National Election Commission (NEC) dismissed concerns as 'simple mistakes' or 'minor mistakes.' This time, however, public awareness and scrutiny were far greater. Korean citizens actively monitored polling stations and mainstream media outlets reported on the irregularities, backed by clear evidence of procedural misconduct. Over two days of early voting, a pattern of serious breaches emerged in polling sites across multiple regions, raising alarms about the credibility of the electoral process. In Sinchon-dong, Seoul, 30 to 40 ballots were removed from the polling station – an act strictly prohibited under NEC guidelines. In Gimpo and Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, ballot boxes intended for the presidential election were found to contain ballots from the 22nd general election in 2024. In Gangnam, Seoul, a poll worker was arrested after using a spouse's ID to vote illegally. In Yongin, ballots pre-marked in favor of Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung were discovered inside return envelopes designated for out-of-district voters. This prompted a police investigation. At another polling station, due to overcrowding, unmarked ballots were distributed to voters waiting outside. Some reportedly left the area – ballot in hand – to visit nearby restaurants before returning to vote, also in violation of NEC procedural rules. Growing suspicion of foreign influence has added further complexity. Former Chinese nationals who had acquired South Korean citizenship shared images and posts about their participation in early voting on Chinese social media platforms. This fueled public anxiety about possible Chinese interference in the presidential election. Concerns over the integrity of South Korea's election have drawn international attention. US conservative commentator Gordon G. Chang – known for his hawkish stance on China and publicly praised by President Trump (Trump said to Chang at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Committee gathering, 'I agree with almost everything you said, almost everything') – spoke out Thursday against the NEC's handling of early voting, saying, 'Fraud is widespread in the South Korean election.' Indeed, as far back as January 7 this year, Chang was spreading to his followers on X the slogan 'Stop the Steal in South Korea!' The National Election Integrity Association (NEIA), a US-based organization, sent a delegation to South Korea to observe the process. On May 30, the group released a public statement citing numerous violations in the early voting system. Among the NEIA observers is Morse Tan, former US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, appointed in the first Trump administration. Other members of the group are retired US Marine Corps Colonels John R. Mills (a former Pentagon cybersecurity expert) and Grant Newsham (whose articles frequently appear in Asia Times) and scholar Bradley Thayer. Faced with evidence, the NEC issued a rare apology. On May 29, the commission acknowledged problems in the early voting process. As further incidents were exposed, a second apology followed. On May 31, NEC Chairperson Rho Tae-ak stated, 'I sincerely apologize for causing confusion among the voters. We will manage more thoroughly in the upcoming election-day voting to ensure voters can cast their ballots with confidence.' Still, public skepticism remains – especially since every known error has so far favored the same candidate, Lee Jae-myung. Calls for reform are intensifying. Some South Koreans argue that early voting should be abolished altogether, citing the frequency and severity of past controversies. Others propose narrowing the four-day time gap between early voting and official election day to allow for better oversight and reduce opportunities for manipulation. A more forward-looking solution is the adoption of blockchain-based voting systems. By timestamping every action and making records immutable, blockchain technology could offer a secure, transparent alternative. Brazil offers a real-world example. In 2020, the country implemented a cryptocurrency called Decred's blockchain through the Voto Legal platform to track campaign donations transparently. Then, in 2022, Brazil again used Decred's blockchain – this time to record the official campaign platforms of major candidates. The aim was to verify the authenticity of policy proposals and fight disinformation. The 2025 South Korean presidential early voting has exposed systemic vulnerabilities that can no longer be ignored. As citizens and international observers voice growing concern, the NEC's credibility continues to erode. If South Korea is to restore public trust and protect the foundation of its democracy, bold, transparent reforms – whether procedural or technological – must move from discussion to action. Hanjin Lew, a political commentator specializing in East Asian affairs, is a former international spokesman for South Korean conservative parties.
Boston Globe
26-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Higher ed is in trouble. Private equity could swoop in and take advantage.
Advertisement All of a sudden, banks might be willing to lend to 'people who are trying to become doctors or lawyers. But people who want to become teachers? Maybe not,' she says. 'People just need to be really clear-eyed about the fact that this is not something that we've ever seen before.' Julia Barnard, who was So what will happen if more of academia is privatized? Actually, we've seen this movie before. And it didn't end well. Alyssa Brock is one of many students whose life was reshaped by private equity. In 2010, Brock was in her last semester of college at The New England Institute of Art, or NEIA, in Brookline. And she landed an interview at a small design firm, in what could have turned out to be a real break. But it wasn't a break. It was a disaster. 'I felt like I had no idea what they wanted me to do,' Brock remembers. She was trying to do something on Photoshop, she says, 'and I'm like: 'Why am I fumbling?'' At NEIA, she says, 'quality wasn't incentivized and prioritized.' She notes that 'instruction often felt threadbare. ... They were showing us YouTube videos. And the teachers varied wildly in quality. There were some who definitely knew what they were doing ... And there were some teachers where it was like: 'Why are you here?'' Advertisement Brock knew little about the history of NEIA, but, as she later learned, the for-profit school's parent company Alyssa Brock attended the New England Institute of Art in Brookline, a small school owned by a private equity firm, which shut down in 2017. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Though we tend to hear far more about Using data from nearly 1,000 schools with private equity ownership, Once, for-profit schools — which were often locally and family-owned — aimed to get students through two or four-year degrees, focused on a particular vocation, and place them in local jobs, according to Charlie Eaton, a professor at the University of California Merced and author of " NEIA's parent company spent more on marketing than teaching. It boosted enrollment to more than 140,000 students nationwide but ultimately went bankrupt, leaving hundreds of thousands of students in debt and causing NEIA to shut its doors in 2017. Advertisement Sabrina Howell, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business and a coauthor of the NBER paper, points out that 'private-equity-owned schools had double the share of employees in sales and marketing relative to other for-profits, and four or five times the share of a nonprofit or public school.' There was 'really pretty compelling evidence,' she says, 'that these buyouts were not in the interest of students.' Many of the schools acquired by private equity and venture capital failed in the 2010s. But in the 2020s, new avenues for investment — including online education — have opened up. And corporate money now has the distinct advantage of being sheltered by marquis names — many of which are 'What you're seeing is not private equity in a consumer-facing brand,' argues Connor. 'You're seeing it in ed-tech. You're seeing it behind the scenes, like [in] online program management, enrollment management, and, to an extent, marketing.' Connor emphasizes that, for these companies and their investors, growth is imperative. Take The school's approach, she says, was: 'We're going to force [students] into hybrid online programs at facilities where we know that the internet is not up to par ... So our students are going to go to McDonald's to access Wi-Fi to take the classes.' Connor argues, 'they just didn't care that they were offering content that their students literally could not access.' Advertisement Phil Hill, Hill says OPMs make the pitch this way: 'Hey, you nonprofit university with your great reputation, you don't know how to do online.' He notes that 'a traditional school is set in their ways. Traditional marketing. People start in September..' But, he says, online is 'a different game.' You need to be more aggressive. And 'you'd better be answering the phone on Saturday at 11 p.m.' Between 2009 and 2021, the private equity- and venture capital-backed company 2U made that pitch well. It struck impressive deals, partnering with Georgetown University, the University of Southern California, and the University of North Carolina. In 2021, 2U spent $800 million to People walked on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles. In 2023, a lawsuit accused USC of using deceptive practices in the online Master of Social Work degree it ran with 2U, a private equity- and venture capital-funded company. About six months later, USC ended its agreement with 2U. Reed Saxon/Associated Press Then things started to unravel. In 2023, a About six months later, USC ended its agreement with 2U. 2U filed for bankruptcy in 2024. The lawsuit is ongoing. Advertisement Connor says that private equity sells itself as having an answer to the woes of higher education, 'which perceives itself to be under threat, partly because of demographic cliffs, partly because public sentiment is questioning the value of higher education, partly because of culture war things.... So the easy answer that's sold to higher education is that all they need to do is offer programs to meet students where they are, and that they can just enroll students. It's just enroll, enroll, enroll.' In 2023, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren expressed worries about the role of online program managers in higher education, Such debt loads can be crushing, as Alyssa Brock discovered. Brock comes from a small town in Maine, and wanted to stick it out and finish her degree at NEIA. But given the questionable quality of instruction, and her ever-increasing bills, she ended up leaving in her last year. Brock says she took out about $80,000 in federal loans, about $100,000 in private loans, and tens of thousands in Parent PLUS loans. Her family, she says, is 'lower-working class. We're not poor, but we're definitely not rich ... And then they started throwing student loans at me and my parents.' She counts herself very lucky to have had most of her loans dismissed under various government actions. After leaving NEIA, Brock worked at Forever 21 before moving back in with her parents and getting a front-desk job at an animal medical center. She says she'd love to attend community college someday. And she even thinks about getting back into creative work, though she says her NEIA experience 'kind of killed the passion for me.' Follow Kara Miller
