NIS Election Meddling

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The National Intelligence Service's taskforce investigating irregularities from previous administrations has discovered that the NIS operated a cyber team during the 2012 presidential election to post pro-government comments on portal sites and social media. Here’s more.

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The scandal surrounding the National Intelligence Service's online comments erupted when suspicions arose that the agency was posting malicious comments against then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in ahead of the 2012 presidential election. In the interim results of the investigation announced two days before the election, police said they had found no traces of online comments related to the election. However, the NIS's taskforce that was formed recently to investigate past irregularities has reported that at the time the NIS had a special division in charge of online comments. The taskforce has reported that the NIS operated a cyber division between 2009-2012, when the agency was headed by Won Sei-hoon. The division posted pro-government comments on four portal sites and Twitter. The taskforce added that the cyber division attempted to suppress anti-government sentiment by monitoring such comments and labeling those who posted them as "pro-North Korea forces trying to disrupt state affairs." The cyber division consisted of conservative-minded servicemen on the reserve list, office workers, homemakers, students and self-employed people who were paid by the NIS. When the division was just set up in 2009, it consisted of nine teams, but by the 2012 presidential and general elections their number had grown to 30. The taskforce has found that the cyber division provided advice to ruling-party candidates on their election campaigns and conducted public polls using the NIS's funds, reporting their results to the Cheong Wa Dae.