Todayhumor (오늘의유머) frequently noted under the

initialism An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

오유(OU), is a South Korean

internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

. Initially established as a community dedicated to humor, it became a left-leaning political website due to its unique nature.

Overview

Todayhumor launched in September 1999 as a subsection of Infomail.co.kr, a South Korean email service. As of April 2013, it is owned and operated as a private organization. The website caused a widespread controversy when a male member sexually harassed a female member at a regulars' meeting in March 2013.

Presidential election, 2012

During the

2012 South Korean presidential election Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2012. They were the sixth presidential elections since democratization and the establishment of the Sixth Republic, and were held under a first-past-the-post system, in which there ...

, an agent of South Korean National Intelligence Service, known by her last name Kim, created multiple user IDs in Todayhumor website and posted articles and comments. South Korean Police confirmed that she had signed up for 16 user IDs and made 288 clicks to express support or opposition to articles in Todayhumor. They also confirmed that she posted articles to Todayhumor on politically sensitive topics including

Jeju-do Naval Base The Jeju Civilian-Military Complex Port for Beautiful Tourism (Hangul: ; Hanja:) or Jeju Naval Base (Hangul: ; Hanja:) is a joint civil and Republic of Korea Navy base constructed by the South Korean government in Gangjeong village on the souther ...

and

Four Major Rivers Project The Four Major Rivers Restoration Project is the multi-purpose green growth project on the Han River (Korea), Han River, Nakdong River, Geum River and Yeongsan River in South Korea. The project was spearheaded by former South Korean president Lee ...

. Subsequently, the police announced that 5 user IDs out of 16 were used by others.

References

{{reflist Internet forums Asian political websites Political mass media in South Korea South Korean websites