Allegations have been raised on Reddit, an American social networking platform, accusing the largest women’s online community in South Korea of sharing confidential and sensitive information about U.S. military personnel, including their sexual characteristics.
A post titled “[Emergency] Personal information of U.S. military personnel in South Korea is being shared in Korean society” was recently uploaded on Reddit. The author, identifying themselves as a Korean American who served in the U.S. military for eight years, issued a warning, “I want to caution those of you in Korea that your personal details are being shared among the Korean women’s community (radical feminist).”
The author added that this women’s online community, notorious for sharing personal and private information of men, has recently begun to share information about foreigners, including U.S. military personnel. To back these claims, “A” posted three screenshots of posts from this community.
The first screenshot showed a selfie of a soldier with a caption suggesting that he is part of the U.S. military stationed in Pyeongtaek. Another post included a picture of a pilot stationed in Seongnam, with comments expressing interest in him.
The third screenshot contained a list of dozens of men, presumed to be U.S. military personnel, detailed with their names, race, age, unit or residence, and personality traits. A significant portion of this information was related to their sexual preferences and physical characteristics.
Members of this online community, with over 800,000 members, are sharing such information while posting reviews about foreign men they met on dating apps.
These posts typically include real photos of the men and recount experiences of the encounters. Before meeting, inquiries about personal information are made, and other members share the information they know through comments.
The shared information mainly revolves around the men’s looks, genitalia, and sexual behavior. During this process, comments such as “I’ve tried him, not bad,” “Must try him,” and “He looks tasty” were made, constituting sexual harassment. There were also instances where explicit photos were shared, some of which involved minors.
The U.S. military in South Korea is reportedly considering legal responses to this situation. Netizens who learned of this news responded with comments like, “Isn’t sharing personal information and photos sexual exploitation?” and “The members, administrators, and everyone at Daum are all out of their minds.”
In response, Heo Eun-ah, the leader of the Reform Party, posted on her social media, “The seriousness of the sexual crimes occurring in the largest women’s community in Korea is growing. I heard they shared information about foreign men they met on dating apps, including their looks and genitalia, in the form of reviews.”
She added, “In the widely shared ‘Complete List of U.S. Military Men Big Data’ list on the platform, detailed personal information about the military men is written. Among the victims of these crimes are minors.”
Heo labeled the situation a clear “second Nth room incident” (a South Korean digital sex crime case), stating that “the pain of the victims caused by it is the same as it was then.” She expressed hope for severe punishment equal to the perpetrators of the Nth room incident and for society’s careful support to prevent recurrence and protect the victims.
According to the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, those who film parts of the body that can induce sexual desire or shame without the other person’s consent, or distribute such filming against the other person’s will, even if filmed with consent, can be sentenced to imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to 50 million won.
Daum Kakao, the platform hosting the community, responded, “The cafe in question is a private community, where only members who have gone through the authentication process can see the posts. Daum Cafe does not arbitrarily check or process private posts. However, the posts in question have not been reported or verified at this time.”
They added, “Daum Cafe plans to conduct a self-control campaign to inform users about violations such as infringement of rights, insults, and defamation at the bottom of the post and comment writing screen,” and “We are discussing various ways to strengthen harmful information management, including the introduction of an automated cleaning system.”
