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| ▲ Kim Gi-hyeon, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, is seen speaking in this undated file photo. (Yonhap) |
portal-suspicion
PPP chief raises suspicion about possible opinion manipulation on portal
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- The leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Wednesday raised suspicion that the nation's No. 2 online portal Daum could be used as a means to manipulate public opinion ahead of next year's general elections.
PPP Chairman Kim Gi-hyeon expressed such a suspicion about Daum in a Facebook post, referring to the controversial news that during the Asian Games men's football quarterfinal match between South Korea and China on Sunday, the ratio of cheering clicks for the Chinese team was 91 percent, compared with a mere 9 percent for the South Korean team.
"I can hardly shake the suspicion that Daum could be serving as a host for manipulating public opinion," Kim said, noting that the ratio of cheerers for North and South Korea reached 75 percent and 25 percent, respectively, on the Seoul-based portal during last Saturday's women's football quarterfinal match between the two Koreas.
"Given that such incidents occurred on Daum, a portal site known for its strong left-leaning tendency, I cannot help but raise a serious question as to whether the specter of public opinion manipulation is being revived again ahead of next year's general elections," Kim said.
He then called for some thorough fact-finding, saying that suspicion that a maneuver may be underway somewhere now to overturn the election results by manipulating public opinion cannot be seen as unfounded.
Kim also asked Daum to immediately conduct a self-investigation and cooperate with the authorities' investigation into the problems.
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