The People Power Party's party affairs audit committee referred the "party member bulletin board controversy," raised in Nov. last year, to the party's central ethics committee. Committee Chair Lee Ho-seon said the accounts in question were identical to the names of former leader Han Dong-hoon's family members and noted, "It could be a more serious crime than the Druking case."
On the 30th, the People Power Party's party affairs audit committee announced the results of its 8th meeting and said, "As a result of the investigation, the accounts in question are identical to the names of five members of former leader Han Dong-hoon's family," adding, "Evidence of opinion rigging was confirmed, with 87.6% of the total posted from just two IPs."
It continued, "They seriously violated the party member bulletin board's operating policy, and after media reports, related individuals' departures from the party and large-scale deletions of posts were confirmed," adding, "Through digital pattern analysis, the party affairs audit committee confirmed that the former leader bears at least managerial responsibility. Accordingly, we decided to send the investigation results to the central ethics committee."
The party affairs audit committee cannot vote to recommend disciplinary action against the former leader. Under the committee's rules, disciplinary recommendations apply only to current party officials. Instead, it effectively sent the investigation results to the central ethics committee, which has authority to discipline ordinary party members, and requested deliberation and a vote.
Party affairs audit committee Chair Lee Ho-seon released separate materials on the results of the party member bulletin board investigation, saying, "Among 10 accounts that used the IP in question, four accounts share the same last four digits of a mobile phone number and the same constituency (Gangnam-gu-byeong). The probability that people with the same name would coincidentally share all these conditions is effectively 0%," and added, "The timing of leaving the party was also concentrated within four days, making it hard to see all these circumstances as a coincidence."
Lee continued, "The problem is that they used accounts in the name of the party leader or family members to disguise it as if a large number of party members supported them," adding, "If they distorted party sentiment, had it reported through outside media outlets, and amplified and reproduced it to sway general public opinion, it could be a more serious crime than the Druking case."