Prosecution to probe DPK contenders' Wikipedia info fabrication

By Kim Rahn

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has asked the prosecution to investigate a case of information fabrication of its two presidential hopefuls on Wikipedia.

The complaint comes as the party’s former leader Moon Jae-in and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung were identified as North Korean politicians on the online encyclopedia recently.

The party said Friday that it filed the complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office against the unidentified person ― or persons ― who posted the misinformation about the presidential contenders, for defamation.

On Wikipedia last month, Moon was identified as “a politician of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” and Lee as “Seongnam mayor in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The national flag of North Korea was included in the information on Lee.

Now the information has been revised correctly as “a politician of the Republic of Korea,” and “a lawyer of the Republic of Korea and Seongnam mayor.”

The online encyclopedia is an open platform that anyone can edit. “We suspect somebody deliberately changed the information to harm the two presidential contenders’ reputation,” party spokeswoman Rep. Park Kyung-mee said, calling the incident “cyber terrorism.”

She said that back in 2012 ahead of the presidential election, the party experienced negative online comments about its then-candidate Moon by the National Intelligence Service. “The truth was not revealed and those involved were not properly punished under the Park Geun-hye administration,” she said.

“The cyber attack on DPK contenders this time, ahead of the presidential election, reminds us of the nightmare in 2012. It should be disclosed whether an individual edited the Wikipedia on his or her own or a specific group was involved systematically,” she said.