Chinese hackers launch “virtual jihad” against South Korea boy band fans

Message displayed on Korean website Kupress on Thursday.

Dozens of website and forums that mention South Korean pop music have been hacked by Chinese web users. Why? Because of a stampede outside a Korean boy band's gig in Shanghai, which hackers say made a fool out of China.

The gig took place in the South Korea pavilion at the Shanghai Expo on 30 May. The band, "Super Junior", attracted thousands of fans, who queued for hours to get one of the 5,000 promised tickets.

For reasons unknown, only 2,000 people were allowed in. So outraged were the thousands of devoted supporters left outside the pavilion, that they began a massive protest, allegedly trying to stampede a human police barrier and clawing at officers.

Chinese web users - in particular World of Warcraft players - took to the net to express their outrage over the "braindead" behaviour of the fans, known as K-fans. After much condemnation, it was decided that the forums and websites of pop bands and fans should be hacked. The plan, or self described "jihad", came into action on Wednesday evening, and within an hour, it was reported that "all forums liked by Korean pop fans have now been blasted". 

“What the K-fans did is shameful”

Laoxie, from Wuhan, Hubei province, is one of the web users that hacked the Korean sites. His blog.

We call the K-fans braindead because it was just crazy for them to try to force the human wall of armed policemen. They even insulted the policemen, with one of the girls taking off her top and accusing the police of indecent assault!

The K-fans caused so much trouble and then had the cheek to frame themselves as victims. It's shameful. The police officers, who have endured hardships and served their country, get abused by idiot K-fans obsessed with a group of Korean pop stars. It was utterly pathetic!"

Hackers’ punishment for fans

Some 24 hours after the offensive, and many of the 40 hacked pages, along with their varying degrees of offensive warnings, Chinese flags and porn, are still in place.

Logging on the Yugihouse website results in the tab bar message "I come from China fuck kr [Korea] I love china".

Try right-clicking on Kupress, an address redirected from Korea University, and the following pop-up appears "Fuck you K r !!". 

The stampede that caused the furore

Video posted on YouTube by "micgadget" 31 May 2010.

Fans try to storm the entrance of the South Korea pavillion to get into the gig. Image posted here.