Website backs far-right backlash
A netizen looks up a topic on conservative online forum “Ilbe,” which is criticized in some quarters for fabricating stories and making false accusations. / Korea Times photo by Yoon Sung-won
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Right-wingers, who were mostly underdogs on Korean websites dominated by progressive netizens, have in recent years found their own online comfort zone called “Ilbe.”
The website (www.ilbe.com) was set up in 2010 and is expanding its fan base rapidly among conservative Internet users, attracting as many as 100 million hits per month. However, Ilbe, which means, best postings of the day, is criticized from some quarters for leaning too far to the right, fabricating stories, making false accusations and posting sensational stories.
Experts say a number of groundless stories are the by-product of the ultra-right website because some members posting material are going to extremes.
Hong Sung-geol, a professor at Seoul’s Kookmin University, said that “the Ilbe phenomenon” is a reflection that right-wingers felt mounting pressure from the dominance of cyberspace by progressives.
“Progressives and left-wingers have influenced bloggers and Internet users in the name of freedom of expression, sometimes posting groundless stories,” he said. “What we are seeing now is that right-wingers are doing the same. Ilbe is a prime example showing that extreme conservatives are disseminating groundless stories.”
Hong cited a progressive Internet website, (todayhumor.co.kr) as a counterpoint to Ilbe. “Ilbe seems to be a response by extreme conservatives’ to the progressive humor site in order to counter the latter’s influence in cyberspace.”
However, Ilbe is prompting debate over how much freedom of expression should be allowed.
Some Ilbe users have posted distorted accounts of historical events.
One recent piece claims that the pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju on May 18, 1980 was spearheaded by a group of 600 North Korean spies.
North Koreans attempted to overthrow Chun Doo-hwan’s military regime, they claimed. This caused a stir following a conservative media outlet that reported the baseless story.
This controversy came just weeks after Ilbe made media headlines because of malicious postings on it about Hwang Min-u, better known as “Little Psy,” referring to his interracial family. The mother of the eight-year-old star is originally from Vietnam.
Some Internet users are calling for the closure of Ilbe for producing a series of groundless, defamatory stories.
Computer expert Lee Joon-haeng compiled the report based on his analysis of the entire Ilbe postings uploaded from July 2011 to May 2013.
Lee found that postings on women topped the topic list on the website, followed by material about the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, North Korean sympathizers, and Gwangju. Sex was one of the most popular topics, he said. The prevalence of foul language is another problem of the website.
Kim Jin-young, a professor of political science at Pusan National University, said the websites are misleading but the government shouldn’t crack down on them unless they are found to be responsible for criminal acts.