As South Korea’s parliamentary elections draw near, the country’s intelligence agency has uncovered a covert operation by Chinese media propaganda firms. The firms are suspected of establishing 38 counterfeit websites mimicking South Korean media outlets, in a bid to sway public opinion with pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and anti-American narratives.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), in collaboration with local security firms, identified the websites on Nov. 13. Investigations revealed that two Chinese companies, masquerading as South Korean media entities, launched the sites to spread distorted news within South Korea, the NIS said. The agency highlighted the malicious intent behind the operations, noting their aim to manipulate public opinion.
A detailed report by the agency exposed two Chinese public relations companies for their roles in the misinformation campaign. The companies, Haimai and Haixun, created media outlets with names and domain addresses closely resembling those of legitimate South Korean news organizations. They illegally republished South Korean news content and falsely claimed affiliation with the Korean Digital News Association.
The fabricated websites, including “Seoul Press” (seoulpr.com), “Busan Online” (busanonline.com), and “Chungcheong Times” (cctimes.org), not only published unauthorized South Korean media reports but also disseminated biased narratives praising the CCP and critiquing South Korea’s involvement in the Summit for Democracy.
This incident is not isolated. The NIS referenced a report by the American cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which outlined similar deceptive practices by China to influence global public opinion. Mandiant’s August 2022 report detailed Haixun’s creation of 72 fake news websites, including Korean-language sites, to propagate CCP viewpoints.
Historically, such deceptive tactics primarily targeted Western nations, but recent developments show a shift in focus toward South Korea. The fake content from the faux websites is now proliferating through various social media channels. In response, South Korean authorities are taking steps to block the sites.
In a related incident in October, suspicious online activity was noted during the Hangzhou Asian Games men’s soccer quarterfinal between South Korea and China. A significant number of fake online cheers for the Chinese team appeared on Daum, a South Korean portal website, indicating potential CCP involvement in manipulating South Korean public opinion.
A report by the portal’s operator found that at its peak, the Chinese team received an overwhelming 93.2 percent of cheers on Daum’s online cheering page, while almost 90 percent of those clicks came from just two IP addresses.
In light of these revelations, South Korean officials are raising concerns about foreign interference in their upcoming elections. After the October Daum incident, Park Sung-Joong, a member of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, warned of potential foreign manipulation in future electoral processes.
Han Mino, a representative of the Confucius Institute Truth Campaign, told The Epoch Times that the CCP’s tactics were “naive and disrespectful” to South Korea.
With legislative elections scheduled for April of next year and Korea’s left-wing, pro-CCP Democratic Party having a majority in the National Assembly, there are growing concerns about foreign influence.
Kim Yongbin, Secretary-General of the South Korean National Election Commission, acknowledged these worries in a recent National Assembly meeting. Mr. Kim said that preparations for the 2024 parliamentary elections would take into account the possibility that North Korea and China may “manipulate” the elections and that measures would be taken to mitigate the risk of interference.
