Spy agent freshly accused of anti-Moon campaign
By Kim Young-jin
An intelligence agent under suspicion of conducting an online campaign against former liberal presidential candidate Moon Jae-in posted online comments critical of the opposition, police alleged Thursday. The agent, identified by her surname Kim, wrote 78 posts about hot-button issues between August and the presidential election, held on Dec. 19, mostly in favor of the ruling Saenuri Party, they said. The fresh allegation contradicts an earlier probe that said Kim had only made personal comments online and had not interfered with the election. In the run-up to the Dec. 19 election, officials of Moon’s Democratic United Party claimed that the National Intelligence Service (NIS), ordered the agent to work against Moon by posting online comments critical of him. The election law stipulates that civil servants maintain neutrality in elections. The agent also disapproved of other posters who had made negative comments about the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration of the Saenuri Party, Kwon Eun-hee, a police officer at the Suseo Police Station said Thursday. The agent has been accused of slander against then main opposition presidential candidate Moon by repeatedly posting negative comments about him on the Internet using 11 user IDs. Kim has denied the allegations, insisting she did not violate the election law. According to the NIS, Kim had been tasked to engage in psychological warfare against North Korea and that her posts were related to that. "Kim did not write online posts critical of presidential candidate Moon Jae-in,” it said in a statement. The issue rocked the campaign trail just before the elections. The DUP hammered conservatives for manipulation while Park Geun-hye, the eventual winner, hit back by saying the agent’s rights were being ignored. The DUP compelled the police and the National Election Commission (NEC) to search Kim’s apartment in southern Seoul, which they claimed was being used by an official of the NIS to post negative comments about Moon online. Before this week’s developments police said had they had not secure sufficient evidence to back the claims. |
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