"Nexon Protest Warns of Knife Attacks if Feminists Gather... Police Launch Investigation"

Posted on online community in the early morning of the 28th
Women's group protest from 11 AM on the same day

Amid a planned rally by a women's group condemning 'feminism hate campaigns' near the headquarters of domestic game company Nexon, a threatening post warning of killing rally participants was uploaded on an online community, prompting the police to launch an investigation.

The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency confirmed that at 1:33 a.m. on the 28th, a post titled "If Nexon femiX gather tomorrow, there will be stabbing" was uploaded on the internet community 'DC Inside.'

Threatening post uploaded on an online community [Image source=Online community capture]

The author of the post wrote phrases such as "I will kill them all" and "Try me" in the body of the text. When a comment stating the intention to report to the police was posted, the author responded with a photo of a knife and wrote, "I will kill them all," and "Do you think adults don't die from knife wounds? I will quickly target vital points, so prepare your death report for tomorrow."

The police are tracking the poster by requesting related data from DC Inside. They also plan to deploy police personnel at the rally site and take other measures. According to the police, only one person posted the threatening message targeting rally participants.

Meanwhile, women's groups, along with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Federation of Korean Trade Unions, and Youth Participation Solidarity, plan to hold a rally and press conference in front of Nexon's headquarters in Pangyo, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province on the same day to condemn Nexon.

The incident was triggered by an animation promotional video for the game 'MapleStory,' which Nexon operates. Controversy arose after claims that a specific hand gesture used by 'Megalia'?an internet community classified as misogynistic?was inserted into the video.

As the controversy grew, Nexon confirmed that the hand gesture was inserted multiple times in promotional animations for its distributed games, including MapleStory and Dungeon & Fighter. These videos have now been set to private.

The animation videos were reportedly produced by an external company. The representative of the external company issued a statement the previous day, apologizing and saying, "Because of remarks made by a problematic staff member on their personal SNS, all the videos we created have started to be evaluated as works that hate a specific gender," and added, "It is absolutely impossible for personal political views to be expressed in the videos."

Meanwhile, Nexon's general director announced on a YouTube live broadcast that a thorough investigation and strong response would be undertaken. However, women's groups and others deemed these measures inappropriate and decided to hold a rally in front of Nexon Korea starting at 11 a.m. that day.