Naver "Data Aggregation Error... Correction Completed"
Professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam University, chairman of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district in Seoul, is speaking at the National Assembly's "Second Meeting of the Advisory Panel for National Intelligence Service Director Nominee Park Ji-won and the Intelligence Committee" on July 16 / Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] Professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam National University, the head of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district committee in Seoul who raised suspicions of search manipulation on Naver involving Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, has demanded that Han Seong-sook, CEO of Naver, personally clarify the issue in response to Naver's explanation of a "technical error."
On the 22nd, Professor Kim posted on his Facebook under the title "Unbelievable, but if the technical error is true, CEO Han Seong-sook of Naver should personally clarify rather than the engineer," stating, "Posting a statement by an engineer on a blog in the early morning regarding the suspicions about the search category for Minister Choo is not an official explanation."
He added, "They neither filed a complaint about the search on Naver nor requested technical after-sales service, yet an engineer posting on Naver Diary late at night that the technical error has been corrected is not a responsible attitude toward the suspicions raised by the entire nation," emphasizing, "This is a suspicion related to political interference by the country's largest portal."
He continued, "Even though the explanation itself remains unconvincing, even if the engineer's explanation is correct, at the very least, CEO Han should provide an official explanation in a responsible manner," pointing out, "That is the minimum duty regarding the national suspicions directed at Naver."
He demanded, "If the engineer's explanation is correct, they should officially confirm it, and if there is new information, they should officially disclose their position," adding, "If possible, I hope they explain truthfully according to the five Ws and one H?when, how, why the error occurred, who, where, and what was done wrong to cause the error."
He warned, "If there is no official explanation from CEO Han, preparations for attending the National Assembly audit should be made."
Professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam University, chairman of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district in Seoul, raised suspicions of manipulation in Naver search results related to Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae. The photo shows the search result screen for "Chu Mi-ae" on the Naver mobile version presented by Professor Kim. Photo by Yonhap News
Earlier, on the 19th, Professor Kim raised suspicions of portal control, stating that the order of the top tabs when searching for 'Choo Mi-ae' on Naver was different from other politicians, and that automatic conversion results did not appear when searching in English keyboard mode.
Won Seong-jae, the lead responsible for search development at Naver, posted on the official blog on the 20th, explaining the suspicion by stating, "There was an error in aggregating user click data."
Won said, "The same error was found in some other search terms including Minister Choo's name, so we urgently started correcting it and completed the work around 12:50 a.m. on the 20th." Regarding the absence of English automatic conversion results, he explained that the search result 'cnaldo' in English keyboard mode was interpreted as the Portuguese football player 'Cristiano Ronaldo."
In response, Professor Kim posted another message on his Facebook on the 21st, strongly criticizing, "If it is not a detailed explanation according to the five Ws and one H, it is a lame excuse."
He demanded, "They must explain 'when,' 'how,' and 'why' the error occurred, and within Naver, 'who,' 'where,' and 'what' was mistakenly touched to cause the error," adding, "The time the error started should all be recorded in the system. They must explain how they confirmed it after the article was published, when they recognized the error, and how they corrected it."
He continued, "They say there are similar cases, but then there should be a certain pattern for similar search terms, and that should be explained," criticizing, "The vague excuse of a system error is a meaningless statement to conceal that someone intervened in and manipulated the system."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
