The Special Counsel for the Druking online opinion rigging scandal, has very bluntly said that the ruling party led by current Governor Kim Kyoung-soo manipulated online comments before the last presidential election. The challenge will be actually convicting Governor Kim since he is a close friend of President Moon Jae-in who he helped elect:
Special prosecutor Huh Ik-bum speaks during a press conference announcing the results of the two-month probe into alleged opinion rigging involving a power blogger and South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo at the special prosecution’s office in southern Seoul on Aug. 27, 2018. (Yonhap)
The suspected massive opinion rigging led by a political blogger was ultimately aimed at influencing public sentiment in favor of the now-ruling Democratic Party in the run-up to last year’s presidential election, special prosecutors said Monday.
Special counsel Huh Ik-bum announced the result of the 60-day investigation into the alleged manipulation of online comments by the blogger Kim Dong-won, known as Druking, and his crew, which also implicated South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo as a possible co-conspirator.
The team of 87 investigators was launched on June 27 upon the National Assembly’s passage of a bill on the independent probe. Suspicions have centered on Druking and Gov. Kim, then a ruling DP lawmaker, for allegedly working together to jack up “like” clicks for comments on Internet news articles to benefit the DP beginning in November 2016 and in the lead-up to the 2017 presidential election. [Yonhap]
