Ye "Signs of Comment Manipulation Detected"... Lee Jun-seok's Silk Pouch 'Kraken' Caught It

"Captured Abnormal Comments Will Be Reported to the Central Election Commission"
"Comment Manipulation May Lead to Legal Disadvantages"

Lee Young, head of the Digital Headquarters of the People Power Party (right), is holding a press conference on the results of the pilot operation of the comment manipulation monitoring program 'Kraken' at the National Assembly Communication Office in Seoul on the 30th. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] The People Power Party claimed to have detected signs of organized comment manipulation maliciously defaming Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate. It is known that the software 'Kraken,' developed in-house by the People Power Party to prevent comment manipulation, was used to detect these abnormal comments.

Lee Young, head of the Digital Headquarters of the People Power Party's Election Countermeasures Committee, stated at a National Assembly press conference on the 30th, "We detected signs of malicious and organized defamation against the People Power Party and candidate Yoon Seok-yeol by posting similar comments through multiple accounts," adding, "Although the comment content was identical, attempts to evade the portal's abuse detection functions were also found, such as changing emoticons or word order."

Lee explained that the recently piloted 'Kraken' detected about 900 'abnormal comments.' The first round of comments reviewed by Kraken reached approximately 350,000, and after several verification stages, a total of 964 comments were concluded to have specific patterns.

Lee added, "We also detected a sudden surge in the number of likes on some comments," and explained, "While it is difficult to definitively say whether macros were used, some comments showed an organized increase trend far exceeding the normal increase in likes."

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party (center), is speaking after receiving a silk pouch from Lee Jun-seok, the party leader (left), at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 8th of last month. / Photo by Yonhap News

In response to reporters' questions asking, "Isn't it possible that an individual repeatedly posted multiple comments rather than organized comment manipulation?" Lee replied, "It is difficult for an individual to generate such a threatening volume within 24 hours," and explained, "We caught comments posted simultaneously by the same account or following the same pattern."

The recently activated Kraken is the so-called 'Silk Pouch Part 1' that Lee Jun-seok, the party leader, gave to candidate Yoon Seok-yeol. Earlier, on the 11th of last month, Lee introduced Kraken on his Facebook, saying, "It is an essential element during the election, and Representative Lee Young and the Digital Party Committee members have been preparing it well while maintaining security. Since it came out first in order, it became Silk Pouch No. 1," and added, "This is our online THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)."

Kraken is a mythical sea monster resembling a squid. The name is presumed to be coined targeting 'King Crab,' the comment manipulation program used by the 'Druking' group. It is known that Lee, an IT expert, led the development.

Kraken operates targeting portal sites and social networking services (SNS), deploying both artificial intelligence (AI) and human monitoring agents. When the Kraken system detects signs of suspected comment manipulation, it reports them to the National Election Commission.

Regarding this, Lee emphasized, "We plan to notify the portals of detected abnormal signs, report to the National Election Commission, and request investigations by law enforcement agencies," adding, "I want to strongly warn that those who manipulate comments will face legally disadvantageous situations."

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