Kim Kyung-soo's Final Opinion: "Druking's Comment Backwork Was Planned... Not an Accomplice"

Full Refutation of Special Prosecutor's Claim That 'Back Operation Was a Simple Mistake'
Comments Extracted and Organized... To Be Submitted to the Court Soon

Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] "Critical comments about President Moon Jae-in were carried out extensively and systematically, so such an occurrence is impossible among accomplices."

It was reported on the 7th that the side of Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, plans to submit a final opinion containing this statement to the court a month before the appeal trial verdict regarding allegations of comment manipulation. This is a complete rebuttal of the special prosecutor Heo Ik-beom team's claim that "reverse operations stemmed from simple mistakes," and a renewed denial of collusion with 'Druking' Kim Dong-won.

The Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Ham Sang-hoon) concluded the trial on the 3rd of last month and requested Kim's side to "submit an opinion on reverse operations by early October, one month before the verdict." This was because, contrary to the special prosecutor's claim that the reverse operation ratio was only 0.7% based on a full investigation of comments by the automated comment manipulation program King Crab, Kim's side argued that "the reverse operation ratio is over 30%."

Reverse operations refer to cases where King Crab, used by Druking's group, clicked 'like' on negative comments about President Moon Jae-in, who was the opposition candidate in the last presidential election. This means that the program developed to create a favorable public opinion for President Moon ironically formed a critical public opinion against him. The more reverse operations there are, the lower the possibility of collusion between Governor Kim and Druking's group.

It is reported that Kim's side is extracting and organizing comments where reverse operations occurred from about 900,000 comments, excluding deleted ones, out of 1.18 million comments manipulated by King Crab. They have secured evidence supporting the claim that the special prosecutor's full investigation result of "about 6,300 comments (0.7%) were reverse operations" is incorrect. Kim's defense attorney also said at the last closing argument, "There are too many omissions in the reverse operation content confirmed by the special prosecutor," and questioned "how diligently they verified it."

Kim's side plans to submit an opinion with this content to the court soon. However, considering that the court has already requested the special prosecutor to submit related opinions first, it is known that the timing is being coordinated around the special prosecutor's submission. Kim's defense attorney stated, "If the special prosecutor does not submit, the defendant's side plans to submit first."

The verdict trial for Governor Kim will be held on the 6th of next month. With the trial effectively concluded, the opinions from both sides are expected to act as a last-minute variable in the court's final judgment. Previously, the court stated regarding comment reverse operations, "We think it is very significant," and added, "If the Supreme Court does not review this part, we believe all our efforts will be in vain."

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