South Korea’s defense ministry said its cyberwarfare agents broke political neutrality by criticizing opposition lawmakers online, part of a wider scandal about government agencies’ activities during the presidential election last December.
Baek Nak-jong, the chief investigator of a probe into the military’s Cyber Warfare Command, said Thursday the investigation found 2,100 online postings praising or blasting specific parties or lawmakers among 286,000 posts written by its psychological-warfare unit since the command’s foundation in January 2010 until Oct. 15 this year.
The mission of the psychological-warfare unit is to counter propaganda and online rumors from North Koreaon issues that include the sinking of a South Korean corvette in 2010 attributed to but denied by the North.
Mr. Baek denied that the messages about South Korean politicians and political parties were designed to influence the presidential election last December in President Park Geun-hye’s favor, an allegation that has caused a political mud fight in Seoul this year.
Specific names of opposition politicians were mentioned in the 2,100 postings, Mr. Baek said, “but not with the goal of political interference.” Linking politicians with North Korea is highly sensitive in South Korea, which remains technically at war with its northern neighbor.
- Reuters
- People shout slogans during a candle-light demonstration demanding an apology from South Korean President Park Geun-hye to the nation, and calling for the resignation of National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Nam Jae-joon in central Seoul August 10, 2013.
In June, prosecutors indicted a former spy-agency chief for orchestrating a Twitter smear campaign against government critics. The chief, Won Sei-hoon, and the agency have said the messages were a part of their normal psychological warfare operations againstNorth Korea, the line also maintained by the defense ministry.
The agency has also announced a set of internal reforms, which critics have called insufficient.
The defense ministry has asked prosecutors to charge 11 officials of the psychological-warfare unit for the breach of political neutrality, according to the investigator.
Mr. Baek said the investigators couldn’t find proof of coordination between the defense ministry and the national spy agency. He added that the head of the psychological-warfare unit said he acted without orders from his superiors.
Kim Han-gil, the leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, said Friday the results were “offensive to the people” and urged a fresh investigation.
Some pundits have questioned how much impact the alleged campaign on Twitterand other online forumscould have had in Ms. Park’s presidential victory, particularly as polls showed her main support came from older voters less familiar with social media.
Ms. Park has denied involvement and said the government will enact additional measures to ensure impartiality after the probes are over.
Doubts about the government’s online psychological activity are likely to linger as proving secret agencies’ activities will be difficult in court, according to Park Chan-un, a human-rights lawyer and professor at Hanyang University in Seoul.
“It’s bound to uncover just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
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