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Newstapa’s Undercover �Story

UNCOVERING ‘COORDINATED COMMENT-RIGGING’ OPERATION AHEAD OF SOUTH KOREA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

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Surface meaning:

“Recruiting a ‘comment monitoring team’ to help elect our candidate.”

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Hidden meaning:

Recruiting a “comment-rigging team” to make our candidate president.

It All Began With a Text Message

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News Distribution Flow in South Korea

①News distribution is heavily reply on web portal giants such as Naver

②Comment sections have long been dominated by conservative / far-right messages

③It remained unclear who was systematically writing these comments.

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Undercover Reporting Clip

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Illegal Comment Rigging Group “Jasongun”’s existence

  • Recruited people using a “fake certification program” as bait
  • Provided compensation in the form of scholarship-style payments
  • During non-election periods, members were sent to schools

→ teaching distorted history to children

  • Organized fake press conferences in the National Assembly, providing support to the conservative party People Power Party (PPP)

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Uncovered reality of comment rigging

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Newstapa’s Undercover Know-How �– Key Questions

Was it truly the “last option”

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Why Newstapa decided to go undercover?

● Internal structure, compensation system, and operation methods of the group could not be confirmed externally

● Undercover reporting was effectively the only way

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1. Find the right person to go undercover

2. Build email and social media accounts

exclusively for reporting

3. Anticipate and prepare for legal risks

4. Test and double-check all equipment

multiple times

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Newstapa’s Undercover Know-How �– Preparation

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1. Place a colleague near the site

2. Record everything

3. Blend in with the group

4. Infiltrate private online communities

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Newstapa’s Undercover Know-How �– While Undercovering

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1. Real-time information sharing with colleagues – Google Drive

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2. Use STT (Speech-to-Text) programs

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3. Google Pinpoint – allows keyword search across images, PDFs, and handwritten notes

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Newstapa’s Undercover Know-How �– Tools and Programs

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  • Investigations were launched after the report

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  • The atmosphere surrounding comment manipulation clearly diminished

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  • Groups mentioned in the report filed a lawsuit against Newstapa

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Effect of the News Coverage

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Thank you!

Terima Kasih!

Kamsahamnida!

Q & A