Partial Communication Delay in Yeouido... Surge in Search Volume for 'Impeachment' Keywords

On the 7th, as the vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Seok-yeol was underway, large-scale rallies continued around Yeouido and the Gwanghwamun area, and except for some delays in network connections, most services were operating normally.

With the entire nation's attention focused on the impeachment vote, related search terms surged by over 1000%, but platform services such as Naver and Kakao showed no significant disruptions.

On the 7th, the day of the vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Seok-yeol, citizens are urging the impeachment of President Yoon in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

According to the information and communication technology (ICT) industry on the day, many posts appeared on social networking services (SNS) from the afternoon reporting difficulties in internet or call connections around the National Assembly building in Yeouido, where crowds gathered.

Telecommunication companies explained that the signal weakening phenomenon could occur due to the large number of people gathered in a limited space and stated that no incidents could be classified as service failures had occurred.

The three major telecom companies said they were closely monitoring traffic conditions and responding by deploying additional mobile base stations and expanding and distributing communication capacity according to the crowd size.

Platform companies such as Naver and Kakao also reported that no service errors had occurred so far.

Naver stated that there were "no unusual issues" regarding major services such as news and cafes and that they were "closely monitoring the situation."

A Kakao representative said, "Since the evening of the 3rd, we have established a response system to operate services stably and are actively responding," adding, "We have completed server expansion to prepare for traffic surges and designated this as a special monitoring period to strengthen monitoring."

On websites, the search volume for specific keywords reflecting the National Assembly plenary session voting situation, such as 'rejection,' surged sharply.

According to Google Trends data, around 7:15 p.m., the search volumes for keywords such as 'Kim Ye-ji,' 'Ahn Cheol-soo,' 'rejection,' and 'Kim Geon-hee special prosecutor law' increased by about 1000% compared to the previous day.

On X (formerly Twitter), posts with 'impeachment rejection' and 'Yoon Seok-yeol impeachment' were posted about 230,000 and 200,000 times, respectively.

Posts about People Power Party lawmakers Kim Ye-ji and Kim Sang-wook, who returned to the National Assembly plenary session and participated late in the impeachment vote, were posted about 55,000 and 27,000 times, respectively.

On SNS, messages spread encouraging Yeouido rally participants to dine at nearby restaurants with prepaid meals under their names, as well as codes for sending 'hot packs' to support attendees braving the cold during the rally.