Regarding Allegations of 'Cheering Manipulation'... Hong Ik-pyo Says "Daum Kakao Must Apologize"

"Defamation Against People Working at Daum Kakao"

During the Korea-China football match at the Hangzhou Asian Games held on the 1st, over 91% of the support clicks on the portal 'Daum' were for China, raising 'manipulation suspicions' mainly from the ruling party. In response, Hong Ik-pyo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, dismissed the manipulation allegations, stating, "The ruling party should apologize to Daum Kakao."

On the 6th, on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon,' Rep. Hong said, "Isn't it that they are forcibly removing broadcasting company presidents and taking control of the media? Now, they are trying to take control of the portals as well."

Hong Ik-pyo, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 27th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

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

However, Rep. Hong criticized the ruling party's manipulation allegations, saying, "What the People Power Party is bringing up is 'left-wing portals,' but is Daum Kakao a left-wing portal?" He added, "In a sense, this is defamation against those working at Daum Kakao. The people at Daum Kakao are not affiliated with any particular political party, nor are they leftists who deny the Republic of Korea."

He said, "Using the issue of support for the Chinese and Korean football teams to claim public opinion manipulation is absurd," adding, "In my view, it seems that after the game ended, at night, a certain individual ran macros to do this."

He further explained, "This method was possible without logging in, and the number of support clicks was unlimited. One person could simply click 10, 20, or even 100 times, so macros were possible. Nowadays, comments on bulletin boards and similar forms all require login. Claiming public opinion manipulation through comments is unreasonable."

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