YouTube capture from 'Jeon Han-gil News 1waynews' raising suspicions about MissyUSA

MissyUSA.com, known as the largest online women's community in the Americas, is once again embroiled in controversy over alleged pro-North Korean group affiliation, more than a decade later.

Jeon Han-gil News reported last weekend, based on a tip from a reader, that MissyUSA engaged in left-leaning public opinion manipulation. While it presents itself as a lifestyle information community, the report claims that the operators manipulated public opinion towards a specific political ideology by deleting certain comments and moving bulletin board posts.

This is not the first time MissyUSA, which boasts over 300,000 members, has faced controversy regarding political bias.

In a column published in the Chosun Ilbo on October 17, 2014, Dr. Lee Ae-ran, a "North Korean defector with a doctorate," pointed to a protest on May 16 of the same year where about 80 demonstrators demanded the resignation of the Park Geun-hye administration and placed advertisements costing tens of thousands of dollars in Manhattan, New York.

That year marked the Sewol ferry sinking, a period when public criticism of the Park Geun-hye government was gaining momentum.

In her column, Dr. Lee stated, "The protest, spearheaded by a group called MissyUSA, involved about 300 Korean-American residents and expatriates, and the protest has continued for nearly a month. They placed advertisements in foreign newspapers containing defamatory remarks about President Park and demanding regime change, using the funds they collected. It is also reported that over $10,000 of the remaining funds were sent to those participating in the Sewol ferry sit-in."

Advertisements placed by MissyUSA in the New York Times in May and August 2014, criticizing the Park Geun-hye administration regarding the Sewol ferry and soliciting funds.

Dr. Lee expressed her shock and disbelief, saying, "It was chilling and astonishing to learn that the key figures who planned and operated the protest led by MissyUSA were Pastor Kim Hyun-hwan, Pastor Kim Dong-gyun, and Noh Gil-nam, representative of Minjok Tongshin. I was amazed that North Korea's strategy towards South Korea had progressed so deeply and broadly."

The accusation that MissyUSA is a pro-North Korean group was previously raised by the right-wing media outlet 'Bluetech.' According to OhmyNews, on October 23, 2014, Linda Lee (Korean name: Lee In-sook) and Moon Sun-young, housewives of Korean descent in the U.S., filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on charges of online personal attacks and defamation.

The incident that sparked the lawsuit was the branding of Sewol memorial rally participants as pro-North Korean leftists.

On August 21, 2016, Judge Jang Sung-hak of the Seoul Western District Court, Civil Division 3, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in part. The court ordered Bluetech to compensate Ms. Lee a total of 2 million Korean won.

At the time, Judge Jang stated, "After reviewing all the evidence, it is difficult to find concrete circumstances to acknowledge that the organization to which the plaintiff belongs is a pro-North Korean organization, or that the plaintiff, as a member of that organization, engaged in pro-North Korean activities."

This ruling effectively ended the controversy surrounding MissyUSA being a pro-North Korean group.

However, Judge Jang, who made this ruling, is also the same judge who issued arrest warrants for two suspects in the 2025 Western District Court intrusion incident. Seoul Western District Court Chief Judge Jang Sung-hak stated on February 4, "There is a risk of flight," as the reason for issuing the warrants.

According to a report by Kyunghyang Shinmun, one of the two individuals for whom warrants were issued had surrendered to the police.

Even before the report by Jeon Han-gil News, the view that MissyUSA was a left-leaning entity was easily found within the Korean-American community in the U.S. △Reference: https://www.workingus.com/forums/topic/%EC%97%AC%EA%B8%B0-%EC%82%AC%EB%9E%8C%EB%93%A4-%EC%99%A0%EC%BA%90-%ED%99%94%EB%82%98%EC%9E%88%EB%82%98%EC%9A%94/

However, the fact that the president of 'Haeorum I,' the company operating MissyUSA, is a former student council president of Yonsei University and is deeply immersed in Marxism, socialism, and communism has been re-examined through DC Inside, reigniting the pro-North Korean controversy surrounding MissyUSA.

Cha Seung-hoon, CEO of Haeorum I, which registered as 'HAEORUM, INC.' in California in 2005, is known to have acquired MissyUSA from its then-operator, Cho Yoon-joo, for $1 million in the same year.

CEO Cha, a 1985 graduate of Yonsei University's sociology department, was deeply influenced by Marxism and entered the labor field, becoming one of the figures who led the pro-North Korean student movement on university campuses in the 1980s. He founded Orem Information Co., Ltd. in 1993 and entered the software business. Haeorum I, Inc. was established in January 2002 in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, with a capital of 200 million won.

It remains unclear how a company with a capital of 200 million won could afford to purchase the operating rights of MissyUSA for $1 million three years later.

In a phone interview with the Atlanta Dong-A Ilbo in 2004, Ms. Cho stated that she had received an acquisition offer of $200,000 from Samsung but refused it, implying that she was not operating the community for financial gain.

At the time of the acquisition, the management and members strongly opposed the sale of MissyUSA. Ms. Cho drew criticism for taking measures such as forcibly expelling opponents and deleting posts. Ms. Cho provided an explanation through a Daum cafe, but her response was met with counterarguments. △Reference: https://m.cafe.daum.net/Missaa/19pP/16?listURI=%2FMissaa%2F_rec%3Fpage%3D12 

After Haeorum I acquired MissyUSA, the doors were opened for men to join as associate members. This was a significant change from the previous method of verifying if applicants were female through individual phone calls.

One of the reasons for the persistent suspicions surrounding MissyUSA is the complete lack of transparency regarding its operators. Indeed, some MissyUSA posts inquire about the absence of company information and administrator contact details. △Reference: https://www.missyusa.com/mainpage/boards/old_read.asp?section=talk&id=talk1&tb=talk17&page=3874&category=0&key_field=&key_word=&idx=5664403&ref=2786651&step=1&level=0

Some argue that MissyUSA's leftward shift is a facet of a long-planned conspiracy to control public opinion within the Korean-American community.

South Korea introduced a system for overseas Koreans to vote in 2009. While demands for overseas voting had existed for a long time, in 2005, permanent residents in the U.S. and Canada filed constitutional appeals, arguing that the absence of overseas voting was unconstitutional.

Around the same time, a surge in investment in Korean-American media in the U.S. is claimed to have occurred. At that time, there was widespread anticipation that overseas Koreans might be able to elect proportional representation members of the National Assembly once overseas voting commenced.

Indeed, during the Lee Myung-bak administration, local expatriates were appointed as consuls general, which led to considerable controversy within the expatriate community.

The importance of mobilizing public opinion in the Korean-American community in the U.S. before and after overseas voting became a practical issue for politicians. Given the vast geographical size of the U.S., there were significant difficulties in publicity and opinion formation, making the preemption of public opinion through media a crucial agenda item.

The internet played a significant role in this. Since 2005, internet communities had established themselves as major media outlets driving public opinion.

In addition to MissyUSA, various regional communities are active, and the media landscape is shifting from a focus on newspapers and broadcasting to online news and social media platforms like YouTube.

With Jeon Han-gil News bringing the issue of MissyUSA's leftward shift back into focus, interest is expected to grow regarding the communication hub of pro-North Korean groups within the Korean-American community in the U.S.

NNP=Hong Seong-gu, Editor-in-Chief / Special Correspondent for this paper NNP info@newsandpost.com