[Exclusive] Circumstantial evidence suggests Kim Moon-soo’s presidential campaign produced at least 1 million appointment certificates

[비즈한국] As controversy grows over the People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo’s central election campaign committee issuing appointment certificates to teachers, members of rival parties, and even celebrities without prior consent, a BizHankook investigation has uncovered evidence that at least 1 million certificates were produced during the campaign period.

An analysis of the Kim Moon-soo camp’s appointment certificate issuance website by BizHankook on the 2nd revealed that the campaign committee produced between 20,000 and 520,000 certificates daily from May 24th to June 2nd, the day before the election.

Based on the certificate issuance numbers and production patterns, it is estimated that at least 1.22 million appointment certificates were produced by the Functional Headquarters of the Kim Moon-soo presidential camp alone.

The controversial certificates were provided through a website at ‘http://msvictorycamp.co.kr/secure_images/app/250524/occ/KimMoon-soo.jpg’, and the text messages sent to recipients included a URL in the ‘Name.jpg’ format, combined with a 6-digit number indicating the production date (e.g., 250524) and the recipient's name. The issue is that the site was designed without basic security measures such as random number processing or access restrictions, allowing anyone to view others' certificates simply by changing the date and name. Critics point out that this presents a serious loophole in terms of personal information protection.

Through this, BizHankook verified hundreds of certificates and found that the issuance numbers at the top left of each document followed a consistent pattern. The issuance number, which starts with ‘Je-Jikneung-Mo-’ denoting the Functional Headquarters, is followed by the issuance date and a unique number, which appears to have been automatically assigned in alphabetical order by name. Checking for duplicates or missing numbers by searching for names at random confirmed that numbers were assigned consecutively to all names.

Accordingly, BizHankook calculated the total volume by entering common names with the surname ‘Hwang’ (e.g., Hwang Gyu-hyun, Hwang Ji-young, etc.), which falls at the end of the alphabet. The highest issuance number for a specific date was in the 517,000 range, and converting this into daily issuance volume suggests that approximately 1.22 million appointment certificates were produced or registered for throughout the entire period.

The appointment certificate issuance numbers were assigned by arranging names in alphabetical order. Through this, the scale of certificates produced daily can be determined based on the issuance number of a person with the surname Hwang.

The problem is that the Kim Moon-soo camp used more than one site for issuing certificates. In addition to ‘msvictorycamp.co.kr’, there is a site called ‘newnormalgift’, which was found to provide certificates under the ‘Organizational Headquarters’ rather than the ‘Functional Headquarters’. While the URLs on this site are encrypted, making it impossible to determine the total scale, the overall volume of certificates would be significantly higher if these are included.

The recipients of these mass-produced certificates include thousands of incumbent teachers who are required to remain politically neutral, local chairpersons of the Democratic Party of Korea, and even progressive actor Kim Ki-cheon, which is expected to stir further controversy.

An incumbent Democratic Party local chairperson remarked, “I have never joined the People Power Party nor requested an appointment, yet a certificate arrived unilaterally,” expressing disbelief. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) and several teacher groups, who received certificates from the same website, have filed complaints against relevant individuals for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, alleging that the campaign committee collected and used teachers' personal data without authorization.

The Kim Moon-soo presidential camp’s appointment certificates were issued via URLs accessible to anyone without separate security measures, and were sent indiscriminately to teachers, rival party members, and celebrities—who must remain politically neutral—without prior consent, fueling controversy over personal information leaks and identity theft. The name above appears to be a namesake unrelated to any actual famous politician.

In response, the People Power Party stated, “It appears there were errors during the election process,” adding, “We are taking measures to immediately withdraw them upon request.” However, criticism is mounting that this cannot be viewed as a simple mistake, given that the actual number of certificates issued exceeds 1.2 million. When asked how they acquired the personal information needed to issue the certificates, the campaign camp did not provide an answer, citing that they were busy.

An official from the National Election Commission stated, “The matter is currently being investigated by law enforcement agencies, and the Commission is not conducting a separate investigation.”