‘Dak ribs counterattack’ did not work … Court of Appeal “Kim Kyung-soo saw the king crab demonstration”

Gyeongsu Branch Kim Gyeongnam. [연합뉴스]

The manipulation of the comments by Drucking’s party began in earnest with the recognition of the governor of Gyeongsangnam-do, Kim Gyeong-soo (53) (a member of the National Assembly of the Democratic Party at the time), and was the sentence of the court that Governor Kim directly participated in, strengthened and continued.

On the 6th, the Seoul High Court Second Criminal Division (Sang-Hoon Ham, Min-gi Kim, and Tae-han Ha) convicted Governor Kim’s appeal for obstruction of business, including computers, and sentenced him to two years. from prison. Judged as. At the first trial in January last year, both charges were found guilty.

Governor Kim was tried on charges of tampering with the rating of comments on news articles posted on the Naver and Daum portal site by conspiring with Drooking Kim Dong-won from December 2016 to February 2018. It is alleged that using the program For ‘King Crab’ macro comment rating manipulation, Naver only manipulated public opinion by clicking the sympathize / dislike button for 1.83 million comments and 88.33 million times, and disrupting the work of the portal site.

Graphic = Reporter Kim Joo-won [email protected]

On November 9, 2016, the special counsel decided that Governor Kim stopped by the dwellings of Drucking Kim’s office in Paju, Gyeonggi, called the Economic Co-Evolution Meeting (Gyeong Competition), and had seen a briefing and a prototype demonstration at the King Crab that day. It is believed that Kim showed Governor Kim the king crab on the same day and asked his permission to run the comment manipulation program, and Governor Kim knew about it and approved of it. However, Governor Kim has completely denied in the first and second trials: “It is okay to visit alive, but I have never seen a demonstration.” For this reason, at the trial, it became a problem if Governor Kim saw the king crab rally on November 9.

The court found the part that mentioned “demonstration” in the prison notice after Drooking Kim was arrested was reliable. In prison, Mr. Kim claimed that Governor Kim stopped alive around October 2016 (actually November), reported on King Crab, and called the developer, Mr. Umo, to demonstrate King Crab in front of the governor. Kim. The Court of Appeals said: “There are parts that were found false through the investigations, but it is of great importance that Mr. Kim mentions ‘demonstration’, an unusual event.” If Mr. Kim tried to entangle the innocent Governor Kim in the crime, he could claim verbal approval and claim that there were also witnesses, but the fact that he insisted on a demonstration that is difficult to prove from the beginning is the purpose of credibility.

The judiciary said that Drew King printed the information report online immediately before Governor Kim came to life, saying that “ King Crab is a machine that responds to the comment machine of the Saenuri Party (now the power of the people) ” and Governor Kim reported with these data. I saw that the fact that I received it was confirmed by tests.

“Comment manipulation” Kim Gyeong-su and Drooking’s party were tried on charges. Graphic = Reporter Jaemin Shin

It was determined that the concrete demonstration was confirmed by the agreement of Woo, who developed King Crab, and the Naver registration record that was discovered at the end of the investigation process. From the beginning of the incident, Mr. Woo insisted, “Under Drucking’s direction, we prepared to hold a king crab demonstration when we visited Governor Kim.” In the Naver record filed by the special counsel, there is a record of Woo repeating six actions with three IDs from November 4, prior to Governor Kim’s visit. As this work leveled off around November 7, the 8th and 9th, just before Governor Kim’s visit, the program ran only once or twice a day. Then on the 9th, the day of Governor Kim’s visit, the king crab is rotated from 8: 7 to 8:23 pm for 16 minutes.

Governor Kim’s side has argued that this is “a development process, not a demonstration.” But the judge did not accept it. The judge said: “If it is a normal developmental process, it would be more reasonable to stabilize it with one ID and then increase it by two or three. Mr. Woo worked with three IDs according to the governor’s visit schedule, and after the visit, again with identification. ” We will do other functions ”. Woo explained that the records before Governor Kim’s visit were “because we prepared a demonstration.” The court admitted this, saying, “We cannot find any contradiction in Woo’s statement.”

The judge said: “Because there are some falsehoods and exaggerations in the statements of the Drucking party, to dismiss all such statements as non-existent is to nullify the duty of criminal prosecution. It has been shown without a reasonable doubt that Governor Kim attended the demonstration.” He ruled. As Governor Kim observed the King Crab rally, it could only be seen that the comment manipulation activities took place under the acquiescence of Governor Kim. On this day, the judge did not specifically mention the movement of the day when Governor Kim stated that “the demonstration could not be seen because of the chicken rib dinner.”

There is another painful part for Governor Kim. The appeals court rejected most of what Governor Kim had argued at trial. Representatively, Governor Kim has argued that his relationship with Drooking Kim is “a simple relationship between online supporters and politicians.” At the trial by decision on September 3, Ham asked Governor Kim about his relationship with Kim more than 10 times, but Governor Kim responded with the same purpose. The judge ruled that Governor Kim’s argument did not match the factually disclosed facts. The judge said: “Governor Kim and Mr. Kim met ten times in private, exchanged views on political issues and formed a very close relationship for more than a year and a half.”

He also mentioned the judgment of the party that Governor Kim has argued: “I thought it was the Sunple movement.” Governor Kim argued that this was not comment manipulation using a machine called King Crab, but rather as an activity that humans were manually commenting on. Judge Ham said at the end of the sentence: “Even if the macro called King Crab was not used, I think it is not absolutely necessary for a politician who must be respected to tolerate organized comment activities.” The judge said: “In a democratic society, the formation of a just public opinion is of the utmost importance and, by abandoning it, I believe that I must take responsibility for the manipulation.” However, Governor Kim did not cancel the bail because he was currently serving in public office and there was no fear of leakage or destruction of evidence. Governor Kim avoided legal confinement.

Regarding the alleged violation of the Law on Elections of Public Officials, which was processed jointly, he was acquitted from the first trial, alleging that there was a misunderstanding of the law. The appeals court paid attention to the text of the Law on Elections of Public Officials. It is a provision of the Electoral Law that “provide money or other earnings in connection with the electoral campaign or the act of expressing the intention to provide the same.”

The special counsel reported that Governor Kim’s conspiracy to manipulate comments with Drucking’s party was an election campaign that led to the election of a Democratic Party legislator in the June 2018 local elections. He indicted the governor. The appeals court interpreted the phrase “in connection with the election campaign” that the election campaign must have the purpose of winning or losing a specific candidate in a specific election. In other words, in the case of Governor Kim’s prosecution, the 2018 local election was specified, but it was deemed not specifically specified which candidate was elected or removed. The judge ruled that if the law was interpreted in accordance with the assertion of the special prosecutor’s office, it was an interpretation that deviated from the principles of criminal justice and clarity. He also said that it is difficult to say that Governor Kim’s proposed consul general position in Sendai was proposed in connection with local elections.

Gyeongnam Governor Kim Gyeong-soo, who was handed over to trial on suspicion of manipulating public opinion, is answering questions from reporters as he leaves the building after completing an appeals court ruling handed down in the High Court. from Seoul in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 6th. [연합뉴스]

Governor Kim’s appeal hearing, which began in March last year with the sentencing, is over. Governor Kim was sentenced to two years in prison for manipulating comments in the first trial in January last year and two years in prison for violating the Public Officials Election Act and sentenced to court after receiving two years of probation. Since then, in April of that year, he was released on bail in an appeal trial and had been tried without custody. The Seoul High Court set a date for Governor Kim’s appeals sentence in December last year and January this year, and resumed the trial twice, saying, “An additional hearing is needed.” Meanwhile, the judiciary was replaced and appeals started again this year. Governor Kim’s appeals, which lasted more than a year and eight months after the start of the second trial, ended 21 times.

After the sentencing, Governor Kim, who was sentenced to jail, said: “I respect the judgment of the court, but I cannot understand it.” He said: “Only half of the truth has been revealed, and half of the other truth will be revealed immediately in the Supreme Court through an appeal.”

Reporter Lee Sujeong [email protected]