Attacks Target Advertising Clients of 3 Major Dailies

Radical liberals are attacking companies and organizations running ads in the nation’s three major newspapers -- The Dong-A Ilbo, The Chosun Ilbo and The JoongAng Ilbo.

Ad operations have been disrupted as groups have posted threats on companies’ Web sites or made threatening phone calls.

Left leaning media advocacy groups and news media have also welcomed this de facto terrorism against advertisers, even calling it a “new civic movement.”

○ How it all started

The MBC TV investigative magazine “Producer’s Notebook,” which played a critical role in creating public anxiety over the safety of American beef, said on May 27 that major newspapers made groundless and biased reports on the beef issue and the candlelight vigils.

The day after the program aired, posts like “Ways to strike a blow to the Chosun, JoongAng and Dong-A dailies” were put on Agora, a popular online discussion forum at the Internet portal Daum. This caused leftist groups to make threatening phone calls to companies and organizations placing ads in the three newspapers.

A Daum source said, “We believe ‘Producer’s Notebook’ episodes have had considerable influence on the attacks.”

The first target was SK Telecom, the nation’s top mobile phone service carrier. One post on Agora said, “Attacks on SK Telecom will have a great ripple effect given its large number of subscribers. It is also easy to phone the company.”

The article also included a list of the phone numbers of related departments.

On May 28, some 700 complaint calls were made to SK’s customer center and public relations team, virtually paralyzing their operations. “They threatened to launch a boycott unless we stopped running ads in the Chosun, JoongAng and Dong-A dailies,” an SK source said. “They demanded that we advertise in the [left-learning] Hankyeoreh or Kyunghyang Shinmun, which actively cover the stories of the candlelight vigils.”

Almost without exception, companies running ads in the three major dailies have received threatening phone calls and attacks on their Web sites.

The National Campaign to Shut Down the Chosun, JoongAng and Dong-A Dailies, an online community in Daum, lists what companies to make threatening phone calls to daily under the category “homework.” For the group, homework means phoning the listed firms and demanding that they stop running ads in the three major dailies.

The Korea Petroleum Association, which ran a public awareness ad about rising oil prices in the three newspapers on June 3, has received threatening phone calls. The Web site of Korean Air has also been bombarded with posts urging the airliner not to run ads in the dailies.

Certain organizations are also on the radicals’ radar for saying they will continue to run ads in the three newspapers.

The online bulletin board of Taean County has been plastered with threatening messages, with one threatening not to visit Taean for vacation after the county ran an ad in the three dailies on a marathon scheduled for next month.

The radical groups are also suggesting making and then canceling reservations to go to Taean with travel agencies, and then using toll-free numbers to file complaints as a way to add to the financial burden.

○ Does a telephone attack squad exist?

A department store employee who received threatening phone calls said, “The phone calls were so similar that I felt a ‘telephone squad’ was systemically involved. They seem to have a manual.”

The president of a dating service that runs small ads in the three newspapers said, “Guessing from their voices, I suspect about five to six people take turns in making about 50 phone calls during business hours. This is hampering operations.”

The matchmaking company said it receives threatening calls at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day.

Some radicals have posted the names and phone numbers of newspaper advertising staff, urging paralysis of their communication network by calling them whenever bored.

A senior employee of Samsung Electronics said, “We plan to run our ads as scheduled, but one or two people repeatedly call us every hour to demand that Samsung clarify its stance.”

Sources in the Web industry said the phone threats are made by Internet users naïve over the severity of their actions, and by left-wing groups seeking exploiting the calls for ideological gain.