Photo: Rhee Park School offices. Credit: Yonhap News.

The biggest issue leading up to the presidential election was the Rhee Park School 리박스쿨, a far-right organization promoting the dictators Syngman Rhee 이승만 and Park Chung-hee 박정희. According to an investigative report by Newstapa 뉴스타파, the Rhee Park School operated a cadre of internet trolls who posted comments spamming popular online articles with support for Kim Mun-su 김문수 and attacks on Lee Jae-myung 이재명.

The report was especially explosive because Rhee Park School doubles as a certifying agency for after-school program instructors for elementary schools. A certificate from Rhee Park School would entitle internet trolls to work at the extended care programs offered by all elementary schools nationwide. The head of the Rhee Park School, Son Hyo-suk 손효숙, was not shy about divulging the organization’s goal to an undercover journalist from Newstapa: “The patriotic youth should infiltrate the schools to teach the correct history.” 

On June 1, police launched an investigation into the Rhee Park School for potential election law violations. The Ministry of Education 교육부 also launched an investigation into the group, and dismissed Son from the Ministry’s Education Policy Advisory Committee 교육정책자문위원회.