South Korea spy agency admits secret plan to influence 2012 election result

An internal investigation has found that the intelligence agency of South Korea tried to steer the result of the 2012 presidential election in favor of the conservative candidate, and placed liberal politicians under surveillance in the run-up to the election. South Korea’s intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has fallen into disrepute in recent years, after it was found to have secretly sided with conservative political candidates for public office.

In 2015, the NIS’ former director, Won Sei-hoon, was jailed for directing his staff to use social media to spread negative views of liberal politicians. He is now facing a second trial, after his conviction was overturned on appeal. Mr. Won headed the NIS from 2008 to 2013, during the administration of conservative President Lee Myung-bak. During the 2012 presidential elections, Won ordered a group of NIS officers to “flood the Internet” with messages accusing liberal political candidates of being “North Korean sympathizers”. One of those candidates, Moon Jae-in, of the left-of-center Democratic Party of Korea, is now the country’s president. Mr. Moon succeeded his main right-wing rival, Park Geun-hye, who resigned in March of this year following a series of financial scandals. She is now facing charges of bribery, abuse of power, leaking government secrets, and corruption.

An internal inquiry has now found that the NIS tried to manipulate the outcome of the 2012 presidential election with 30 dedicated teams of officers —some of whom were hired specifically for that purpose. A number of teams were in charge of creating fake social media accounts and using them to post negative views of Mr. Moon and positive views of his conservative rival, Mrs. Park. Other teams were tasked with creating the false impression that South Korea’s rival, North Korea, was supportive of Mr. Moon’s candidacy. The probe also found that the NIS launched similar —though on smaller scale— efforts to influence the outcome of parliamentary elections in 2011 and 2012. Additionally, the NIS placed a number of opposition politicians under surveillance.

Since his ascendance to power last spring, Mr. Moon has pledged that the NIS will be reformed and that it will stay out of domestic politics. In June of this year, Mr. Moon announced that the domestic intelligence wing of the NIS would be dissolved.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 07 August 2017 | Permalink