91% Support for China in Korea-China Match on 'Daum'... Ruling Party Calls for Investigation Amid Manipulation Controversy, Opposition Accuses Portal of Intimidation

Controversy Over Portal Support Manipulation... Ruling Party "Strict Punishment for Public Opinion Manipulation"
Government Also Forms Pan-Ministerial TF to Respond
Opposition "Ruling Party Threatens Next Portal"

Regarding the controversy over alleged manipulation during the Korea-China football match at the Hangzhou Asian Games on the 1st, where over 91% of the cheering clicks on the portal 'Daum' were for China, political reactions were sharply divided. The government and ruling party focused their fire, saying "an investigation is necessary," while the opposition maintained a critical stance, claiming "it seems like an intimidation of the portal."

On the 4th, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that "it is true that manipulation occurred. During the Korea-China football match, did cheering for China really reach 91%?" and added, "an investigation is needed."

During the Korea-China football match at the Asian Games on the 1st, the portal 'Daum' conducted click-based cheering, but despite being a Korean portal site, the proportion of cheering for China exceeded 91%, raising suspicions of manipulation. In particular, the ruling party has raised voices calling for an investigation, arguing that attacks originating from China via VPN bypasses could distort domestic public opinion.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Rep. Ha stated, "Someone used a macro machine, but the IP addresses were from the Netherlands, Japan, and Korea," and added, "someone accessed through a bypass, which means there was also bypass access from China. It is possible that mischief was done domestically as well, so this must be investigated."

Park Sung-joong, the ruling party's floor spokesperson on the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, also held a press conference at the National Assembly that day, saying, "Macro manipulation and VPN technology that bypasses IPs are clever tools used to manipulate public opinion, like the 'Druking' case that manipulated 88 million comments," and urged, "related agencies such as the police, Ministry of Science and ICT, and Korea Communications Commission must take all measures, including analyzing abnormal signs of macro manipulation and VPN logs, to strictly punish those manipulating public opinion."

The government is also preparing to respond accordingly. Lee Dong-gwan, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, attended a Cabinet meeting that day and gave an urgent report on the matter, later telling reporters, "It has been confirmed that acts that divide public opinion can be carried out not only domestically but also by foreign forces." Prime Minister Han Duck-soo ordered the formation of an inter-ministerial task force (TF) to prepare countermeasures against public opinion distortion and manipulation.

On the other hand, the opposition pointed out that this is an issue that can be resolved by system improvements and accused the ruling party of pressuring portals like Daum.

Park Sung-min, former Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, said on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' that morning, "This is simply a system issue that can be fixed by improvements," and added, "The problem is that the ruling party is using this as a pretext to intimidate the portal Daum, which makes me suspicious."

Ryu Ho-jeong, a member of the Justice Party, also argued, "From the perspective of ordinary users, it looks like 'this link spread somewhere on Chinese sites, so people clicked a lot,' but in the minds of People Power Party politicians, a 'China Gate'-style conspiracy theory from Ilbe sites is implanted."

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