The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday filed a complaint with the prosecution against the main conservative opposition party over allegations that it had engaged in online opinion rigging campaign since 2006, including during the 2007 presidential election and 2014 local elections. 

Thursday’s move by the ruling party to bring the allegations to prosecution came just a day after a local media outlet reported that the Liberty Korea Party (then Grand National Party, which later rebranded to Saenuri Party) systematically ramped up the number of “agree” clicks on a local search engine for specific comments posted on news stories through computer programs.

The news report cited chat records it secured from the party campaign office.

The ruling party urged the prosecution to thoroughly investigate the allegations against the opposition party which they characterized as a “crime against the constitutional order.”

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)