Hong Ik-pyo "China cheering public opinion manipulation? Left-wing portal ideological debate is inappropriate"

SBS 'Kim Taehyun's Political Show' Interview
"Cause Not Identified but Exaggerated"

Hong Ik-pyo, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed that the ruling party has the intention to politicize and turn the incident involving allegations of public opinion manipulation on the portal site Daum's Hangzhou Asian Games football cheering page into a political issue.

In an interview on June 5th with SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' Hong said, "It is inappropriate to immediately label the portal as left-leaning and drag this into an ideological debate or escalate it into foreign relations."

Hong Ik-pyo, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Hong emphasized, "The ruling party should not get excited about this issue but rather identify the facts, understand what the problem is, and find solutions." He pointed out, "The problem is being exaggerated without the cause being properly revealed."

He explained, "The cheering site was non-login based. Users could click without logging in and could repeat actions, which opened the door for certain users to distort the results using macros, indicating a clear institutional flaw."

However, he added, "Comments on Daum require login. Grouping portal comments together and discussing them on the same level distorts the facts and misleads."

Regarding Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's order to form an inter-ministerial task force related to the allegations, Hong said, "This is an attempt to muzzle the media," and warned, "In trying to catch fake news, there are cases where the most important constitutional freedom of expression is infringed. I hope the government takes this opportunity to reflect on how the Yoon Seok-yeol administration has significantly suppressed freedom of expression."

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