A composite image of a rally by Save Korea, a conservative Christian group that opposed the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, held outside Dongdaegu Station on Feb. 29, 2025, and Morse Tan, an American lawyer who has been an outspoken advocate of election conspiracy theories. (Yonhap, via YouTube)
A former US official who has promoted conspiracy theories about election fraud in Korea and President Lee Jae Myung arrived in Korea on Thursday, one day before early voting began for the June 3 local elections.Morse Tan landed in Korea around 7:50 pm that day via Incheon International Airport, where he addressed supporters who had gathered to welcome him. Referring to a Truth Social post by US President Donald Trump, Tan said Trump “was talking about election fraud around the world, and he specifically included South Korea in the countries that he specifically named.”Tan added that he anticipated that Trump would shift his attention to Northeast Asia after “resolving some of these other issues,” such as the war with Iran, adding that a “top-level US official” he declined to name had told him that they “understand that South Korea is in crisis.”Seoul-based lawyer and Tan supporter Park Joo-hyeon introduced Tan as a member of the American half of the “Korea-US Election Fraud Joint Investigation Team.” Supporters cheered for Tan and asked for autographs.Tan had previously faced investigation by Korean police for allegedly spreading false information in June last year about Lee Jae Myung at a news conference hosted by a private US group calling itself the “International Election Monitoring Team.” Speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Tan claimed that Lee had been involved in a gang rape and murder as a youth and spent time at a juvenile detention center, which he said caused Lee to miss middle and high school. Police last month opted not to send the case to prosecutors, citing lack of jurisdiction since Tan is an American citizen and made his comments in the US. But police reopened their probe after prosecutors requested a reinvestigation on the grounds that the location where the harm occurred, not only where the offense was committed, can be considered the crime scene.Tan is a Korean American who served as the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice during the first Trump administration and previously served as dean of the Liberty University School of Law.Tan has repeatedly promoted unfounded conspiracy theories, such as alleging that the Chinese Communist Party manipulated election results in Korea.By Park Go-eun, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
