Opinion Rigging Scandal

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A special prosecutor team has requested an arrest warrant for Gyoungsangnam-do Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo over his alleged involvement in an online opinion rigging scandal. The independent counselor's team also questioned presidential secretary for civil affairs Baek Won-woo as a witness for the case.

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A special prosecutor team led by Huh Ik-bum requested an arrest warrant for Gyoungsangnam-do Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo over his alleged involvement in an online opinion rigging scandal. Kim is accused of obstructing the business of major Web portal operators including Naver in collusion with the blogger "druking." The special prosecutor team grilled the governor as a suspect on August sixth and on the ninth. At the time, observers said that it might be difficult to seek an arrest warrant for Kim, as the blogger retracted some of his statements. However, the independent counselor's team concluded that Kim had approved the use of the computer program "King Crab" which is designed to rig online comments after the blogger's team demonstrated how to use it back in 2016. It indicates Kim was well aware that opinion rigging was illicit. The special prosecutor team's move is based on related evidence it has secured and statements by druking's aides. special prosecutors also looked into allegations that Kim had promised to recommend the blogger as the consul general to Sendai, Japan, in return for helping the ruling party in the June 13th local elections. However, the allegation was not included in charges supporting the arrest warrant for Kim. With the arrest warrant for Kim, there is a significant chance that the special prosecutor team's investigation period could be extended. Only ten days are left for the team to probe the case. A court arraignment hearing on Kim's arrest will be held at the Seoul Central District Court as early as Friday. Meanwhile, the independent counselor team also questioned presidential secretary for civil affairs Baek Won-woo as a witness for eight hours on Wednesday. The questioning focused on why Baek had met a lawyer surnamed Do, who is known to be close to the blogger. Special prosecutors are looking into a possibility that Baek who is in charge of overseeing government inspection agencies might have abused his power to help the governor.