'Comment Manipulation' by Druking Kim Dong-won Sentenced to 3 Years... Impact on Kim Kyung-soo Trial

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prison sentence for Kim Dong-won, known as 'Druking,' who was indicted for manipulating the number of likes on portal site comments, has been finalized.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) on the 13th upheld the lower court's ruling in Druking Kim's final appeal, sentencing him to three years in prison for charges including comment manipulation and bribery, and a six-month prison sentence with a one-year probation for violating the Political Funds Act.

Kim was indicted on charges of manipulating the number of likes on comments using the macro (automatic input repetition) program 'King Crab' from late 2016, with the intent to help the Democratic Party candidate win the 19th presidential election. He was also charged with conspiring with one of his associates, lawyer Do Doo-hyung, to illegally provide a total of 50 million won in political funds to the late former lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan and fabricating related evidence to conceal this.

The first trial sentenced Kim to three years and six months in prison for comment manipulation and related charges, and six months in prison with a one-year probation for violating the Political Funds Act. The second trial reduced the sentence to three years in prison for comment manipulation and maintained the same sentence for the Political Funds Act violation. The Supreme Court found no errors in the second trial's judgment and confirmed it as is.

Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo is answering questions from the press as he attends the appellate trial hearing held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 14th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

With Kim's conviction for comment manipulation finalized, it is expected to impact the appeal trial of Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province. The first trial had acknowledged that Kim conspired with Governor Kim Kyung-soo to manipulate comments. Although the second trial court did not issue a new ruling on this point, it explained in the sentencing rationale that "Governor Kim Kyung-soo directly requested a public office in exchange for manipulating comment rankings." The Supreme Court stated, "Whether there was collusion with Kim Kyung-soo was not raised as a ground for appeal and is unrelated to the guilt or innocence of the defendants, so it is not subject to judgment in this case," and therefore did not conduct a separate review.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.