By Lee Kyung-min
The prosecution will question South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo, today, over allegation that he conspired with an influential blogger to rig online opinions to help then candidate Moon Jae-in in the lead up to the presidential election last May.
The team led by special counsel Huh Ik-bum said Sunday that Kim, then a close aide to Moon, will be questioned over allegation that he gave tacit approval to use an automated program following a presentation by the blogger's followers at an office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in November 2016. The blogger, known by his nickname Druking, said Kim “nodded” and “looked highly impressed” after his group showed him how the program could increase the number of likes and dislikes for online comments to boost Moon's popularity.
The team said statements by Kim's chauffer revealed his itinerary on the day in question. The allegation, it added, is further substantiated by the blogger's claim that Kim gave his group 1 million won ($980) in cash which prosecutors consider was in return for its “efforts.” The team said this proves Kim conspired with the group to interfere with the content on the nation's two largest portals, Naver and Daum, which constitutes obstruction of business. This is a criminal charge punishable by a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to 15 million won.
An earlier police investigation found the blogger sent a message containing a list of online news articles considered “done,” in the sense that they were successfully manipulated, to Kim through Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging service. In other messages, Kim sent the web addresses of articles asking for “promotion,” to which the blogger replied “Will get it done.”
In denying Druking's claim, Kim stated that he was unaware of the program, and furthermore didn't know how it worked. Kim admitted visiting the office in Paju on about three occasions, but said that he only heard the blogger saying he would promote “sunfull,” a Korean word for “nice online comments,” clearly distancing himself from the allegation that there was political maneuvering. The web addresses sent to the blogger, Kim added, were meant to be shared with the thousands of members of the blogger's online forum, not for any illegal activity.
Meanwhile, the team will also focus on identifying the nature of the relationship between Druking and Kim, presuming that he served as a “trusted advisor” to the then lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea.
The blogger said during earlier questioning that he consulted with Kim over a wide range of politically crucial issues that Moon was able to gain the upper hand in during public discourse in the lead up to the snap election. The claim was substantiated by the review of “incriminating materials,” stored in a USB flash drive where he transferred about 60GB data from a computer hard drive in March amid the intensifying investigation into the scandal in a move to help improve his credibility with investigators.