Cyber warfare officials admit to political activity

Several employees of the military’s cyber warfare command have admitted to having posted political comments online, an official at the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

Their admission came as the ministry’s Criminal Investigation Command and the military prosecution were conducting an investigation to see if they violated the military criminal code that bans any political activity by service members.

“Under the direction of the defense minister, we are carrying out an investigation to clarify all these suspicions. The members of the command in question have well cooperated with the probe,” the official said, declining to be named.

During a parliamentary audit of the government this week, the allegation emerged that four civilians in the command posted about 300 election-related messages last year ― including some questioning the qualifications of Rep. Moon Jae-in, the then opposition presidential candidate ― on the internet.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)