By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
McDonald's is bearing the brunt of a public backlash ahead of the resumption of U.S. beef imports, with its Web site hacked.
The company announced Tuesday the site was being repaired after an attack by an unidentified hacker on the previous day and it reported the case to the Cyber Terror Response Center of the National Police Agency.
For one and half hours Monday evening, those who logged on to the McDonald's homepage were automatically redirected to a foreign-based adult site.
Suspicion is growing amid an upswing of nationwide opposition to the resumption of American beef imports and McDonald's could be the target of attacks. The fast-food chain said such suspicions should be treated as unconfirmed rumors.
``For now, it's not appropriate to assume what caused that because all possibilities are open,'' its communications manager Yeom Hye-ji said. ``We did what we could about it, and will just wait and see.''
The problem is, if it really is part of the cyber protest, the company's business practically has nothing to do with American beef. It has been using beef from Australia and New Zealand for all of its products since 1995, according to the company.
McDonald's Korea says it has already been haunted enough by the issue. Last month, two members of a huge environmental civic group orghanized a guerilla protest at its headquarters in central Seoul.
The Korean Federation for Environmental Movement members rallied atop the company's big M-shaped arch signboards, wearing masks featuring President Lee Myung-bak and the U.S. President George W. Bush and carrying a banner saying ``Opposition to the imports of mad cow.''
``Maybe it's because we have this overwhelming image of McDonald's as a famous U.S. company, even though it is a Korean corporation with almost all employees Korean as well,'' Yeom said.
Nothing was proved about a possible link between the hacking and deep-rooted anti-U.S. sentiment, but it is still implicative as signs are emerging online bashing U.S. products, as in former times concerning U.S.-related accidents here.
It's not just fast-food chains that are damaged. Other major casual restaurants franchises like TGIF and Outback Steak House face difficulties since the outbreak of the controversy, as rumors that they use American beef prevailed through online posts and cell phone messages. All the franchises have been using Australian beef since early this decade.
It is a double blow for them as mostly teenagers, usually their biggest customers, spread the rumors.
Most of the franchises in question kept a low profile. TGIF denied the rumor, saying its monthly sales increased last month from a year ago, but declined from offering accurate data.
``We need to be cautious about making public sales data in this sensitive time,'' a TGIF marketing executive said.
Possibly out of unexpected backlash from consumers, many discount stores and departments plan to refrain from selling U.S. beef in the near future.
hckim@koreatimes.co.kr
