North Korea is reportedly paying a team of internet commenters to circulate false rumors in both comments sections and social network sites, in order to embarrass their bitter enemies South Korea.
The North Korean government is said to have enlisted what officials are referring to as an “online reply team,” who are tasked with spreading vicious rumors about the rival country in an attempt to undermine the power of the South Korean government. With Kim Jong-un and his regime having multiple problems with current South Korean president Park Geun-hye, the dictator reportedly hopes that the efforts to cause dissent among S. Korea’s population will lead to the election of a government that will be more leniant in regards to the “Hermit Kingdom’s” controversial nuclear programs.
The South Korean presidential elections are set to take place on December 20, 2017, with North Korea ramping up their involvement with this political process as a result. Park Geun-hye cannot be re-elected for another term, so Kim Jong-un hopes that the government who is elected will be more sympathetic towards North Korea’s military experiments.
South Korean president Park Geun-hye. (Image Credit: Pool / Getty Images)
According to the Korean Herald, the online reply team has spread a rumor that involves the 13 restaurant workers that defected to South Korea in April. The employees, who worked in a North Korean state-run restaurant in China, were said to have been kidnapped by the South Korean government in comments circulated online. According to this rumor, the employees had gone on hunger strike as a result of their “kidnapping.”
Also See: North Korea Has Accidentally Leaked its Propaganda Websites
North Korea is looking to take advantage of the current unrest in South Korea, with many in the country calling for the resignation of Park Geun-hye as a result of her allegedly leaking state documents to a friend. After the president forced 10 senior secretaries to resign, as many as 12,000 demonstrators were were present in a protest intended to convince her to step down from her position, according to CNN. It is reportedly hoped by North Korea that they could manipulate the South’s population into voting for a country that would allow them to continue carrying out nuclear and ballistics test unopposed, with infiltrating the country’s websites and social networks with misinformation perceived as a step towards achieving this goal.
This latest piece of information shows North Korea’s continued efforts to use the internet as a means of spreading its propaganda. Last month the country’s .kp domains were leaked for the first time ever, revealing that its domain is utilized by just 28 websites, most of which are focused upon criticising South Korea along with praising Kim Jong-un’s dictatorship.
