Clip of S. Korean poll worker sealing ballot box misrepresented as fraud

"They are reattaching the ballot seals. Suspicious. Why would they reattach it?" reads Korean-language text over a YouTube video shared on June 3, with a caption saying it was filmed in Ulju -- a county in South Korea's southeast. 

The 35-second CCTV clip shows a woman and two men in a room filled with what appear to be ballot boxes. The woman removes a piece of black seal from the lid of a box while the two men look on.

The woman then hands a small, nail-sized object to one of the men, who attaches it to the lid. She goes on to affix a fresh piece of seal on top. The second man observes the entire process.

"Look, look! They are removing the seal!" a voiceover says in Korean. "This is ridiculous."

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Screenshot of the false post taken on June 15, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

President Lee Jae Myung's Democratic Party (DP) swept most seats in the local elections held on June 3 but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat -- suggesting voters sought to keep a check on the party's power in a poll seen as a referendum on Lee's first year in office (archived here and here). 

Ballot paper shortages reported at dozens of polling stations led to large protests in Seoul, including a 35-hour blockade of one location to prevent authorities from removing two ballot boxes for counting. Some demonstrators called for a rerun of the election (archived link).

The head of the electoral body resigned amid the controversy, while prosecutors and police have started a joint investigation into the incident (archived link).

The video of ballot boxes spread widely in multiple languages across Threads, Instagram and X. Some users appeared to believe the clip was proof the polls had been rigged.

"South Korea's election fraud footage exposed on site!" one wrote.

Another commented: "The scenes are truly shocking no matter how many times you watch them!" 

However, the clip shows a longstanding security practice for collecting early votes cast in South Korean elections.

"The video is simply showing this ballot box sealing procedure at a polling station before the boxes were moved to ballot-counting centres," a spokesman for the Ulsan city unit of the NEC told AFP on June 10.

Ballot box sealing

The spokesman confirmed to AFP that the footage was filmed at a polling station in Ulju at around 5:30 pm (0830 GMT) on June 3 -- about 30 minutes before the vote was officially closed.

Early voting allows South Korean voters to submit their ballots at any polling stations, which for this cycle were open May 29-30. Workers then mail envelopes containing the ballots to voters' home districts, where they are inserted into boxes under the watch of observers recommended by each political party (archived link).

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Election officials transport a ballot box to a counting centre in Seoul on June 3, 2025, after voting in the presidential election closed (AFP / Pedro Pardo)

Here is how that process works, according to the NEC:

• Each time votes are received, election workers remove a seal on the door of a ballot box storage room to enter it (archived here and here).
• Officials then remove another seal on the lid of a ballot box and insert the envelopes.
• Poll workers secure a fresh seal to the lid before leaving and sealing the room again. 

This process is repeated through election day. Live surveillance feeds from the ballot box storage rooms are displayed on large screens at the regional NEC headquarters for public monitoring.

Once the last batch of early votes is inserted, an election worker seals the ballot box for the last time. That involves removing a seal, placing a pin on the lid to lock the box and applying a fresh seal -- all while being monitored by observers (archived link).

'Groundless'

The NEC spokesman identified the woman in the clip shared online as an election worker, and the two men as monitors recommended by the DP and its rival People Power Party (PPP).

AFP tried to contact all three for comment, but the NEC said they declined, citing personal schedules and discomfort with speaking to the media. 

The Ulsan chapter of the DP confirmed to AFP on June 16 that the man standing with his back to the CCTV camera is a monitor recommended by the party. AFP contacted the PPP for additional comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

Kim Young-tak, director of the nonprofit Korea Election Association, which specialises in election-related education and training, dismissed the fraud allegations targeting the workers as "groundless" (archived link).

"Many polling station workers are not even employees of the NEC -- many are random public servants or school teachers drafted to help out on the election day, and even they are watched by observers sent by different, rivalling political parties at all times," Kim told AFP on June 11. 

"People just seem to believe what they want to believe, regardless of this reality."

AFP has repeatedly fact-checked false and misleading claims about the integrity of South Korea's election process.