Continued from Part 1 

The fake rally participants – the security contractors hired by Hyundai Motor Group – were instructed in a KakaoTalk chat room to call up a phone number if protestors or union officials appear in front of the group's headquarters buildings, according to the mobile messenger conversation log. 

The phone number given to the security contractors was ‘82-2-3464-2000.’ It was confirmed to be that of Hyundai Motor headquarters' security team.

According to the KakaoTalk mobile messenger chat room reporting guidelines obtained by KCIJ-Newstapa, Hyundai Motor cannot avoid the responsibility of directly engaging in civilian surveillance activities while receiving real-time reports on the movements of rally participants and protestors around its headquarters buildings.

When KCIJ-Newstapa called up the number, a Hyundai Motor security team staff member answered.

○ Hyundai Motor Security Team employee: This is ○○○, of the security office.

● Reporter: Is this Hyundai Motor security team?

○ Employee: Yes, we are.

● Reporter: Yes, hello. This is Hong Woo-ram, a reporter from KCIJ-Newstapa.

○ Employee: Yes, but this is the security office. What brought you to call us?

● Reporter: We found out that Hyundai Motor rally participants were surveilling the protestors around them and reporting back to the security office, so...

○ Employee: We don't know about that situation. ... We can’t confirm who you really are at this moment, and we don't see any reason to respond.

Beyond the smartphone, the security office staff member denied the allegations. 

However, the fake rally whistleblower whom KCIJ-Newstapa spoke to told a different story. The security guard testified that he had called the Hyundai Motor security team himself while working at the fake rally. He said that the number 82-2-3464-2000 was “always answered by a manager of the (security) office.” His testimony suggests that a high-ranking member of the Hyundai Motor security team was in direct communication with the rally contractors.

The security guard also mentioned that the company’s security team usually maintains a close relationship with the contractors to manage the rally site.

However, when a Newstapa reporter talked to one of the Hyundai Motor security team staffers at the main entrance of the company’s headquarters, he responded as if the rally was not related to the company at all.

○ Hyundai Motor Security Team employee: We have nothing else to say. We work to ensure safety here. We have nothing to do with that side (the fake rally), so you shouldn't ask us about that. Go ask the organizers over there. It's nothing to do with us. You can't keep asking us while we have to work.

● Reporter: It was Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors who signed up for the rallies.

○ Employee: We have nothing more to say. 

● Reporter: I’m saying as you said your team’s irrelevant to them.

○ Employee: No, we are not involved with that.

The employee’s explanation is not true. Hyundai Motor Group directly files a rally to the police in the company's name and calls dozens of security contractors every day to disguise themselves as voluntary participants.

KCIJ-Newstapa also sought clarification from a senior manager from the security company, which contracts to the fake rally. In the excerpt of the security contractors’ KakaoTalk chat room, only one person gives orders amidst minute-by-minute messages by the young men in black. It is Kim, an executive of a security company, who directs and manages the young security guards at the Hyundai Motor Group headquarters' fake rally sites.

A Newstapa reporter made a phone call to Kim at the rally site. A man in his 40s standing among the rally contractors brought his smartphone to his ear. He and the reporter made eye contact. It was Kim. 

“How did you get my number? Are you supposed to know everything? It's personal information,” Kim demanded. “Tell me who gave you my number.” 

“I don't want to be interviewed," he said, crossing his arms.

● Reporter: This is a rally that's organized by Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, right? I just talked to the (Hyundai Motor) security team, and they say that this (fake) rally and the participants have nothing to do with the security team. So you can tell us the answer.

○ Kim, the security service company executive: ...

● Reporter: Aren't you supposed to report the situation of the rally here and the movement of the protestors to the (Hyundai Motor) security team? You're supposed to receive the report directly (from the fake rally participants). Isn't there an instruction to call the security office at 82-2-3464-2000?

○ Kim, the security service company executive: ...

● Reporter: Just to be clear, this may be a violation of the Stalking Punishment Act. Were you notified of this from the (Hyundai Motor) security team? Did you inform the rally participants – the security contractors – about this? Did you?

○ Kim, the security service company executive: ...

The security company executive, Kim, eventually walked away not answering a question. 

It’s a violation of the law for the security companies to participate in the fake rally organized by Hyundai Motor Group. 

Current Security Services Industry Act stipulates that security companies “shall perform security services within the scope of the management rights of the owner or manager of the facility to be guarded, and shall not infringe on the freedom and rights of others or interfere with their legitimate activities.”

However, the security guards that Hyundai Motor contracts with work outside the headquarters buildings – outside the area of Hyundai Motor’s management rights. They occupy hundreds of meters of sidewalk, a public asset, disguised as rally participants. 

According to the Act, a security company is obligated to refuse a requested security service if it is illegal or unreasonable. However, the security companies contracted with Hyundai Motor rally have not complied with this obligation. If a security company fails to refuse an illegal or unreasonable request, the Act requires the company’s security service license revoked.

Local police are also turning a blind eye to Hyundai Motor’s absurdity. 

Recently, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul issued a rally ban to participants of a rally of laid-off workers who were forced to rally in a safe zone in the middle of the road due to the interference of Hyundai Motor's fake rally. Instead of sanctioning Hyundai Motor's rally contractors and securing a safe place to rally on the sidewalk, the police chased away people who were threatened and monitored by the rally contractors.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor's fake rally remains intact. Hyundai Motor and its security contractors continue to hold illegal rallies every day in defiance of current laws, facing no sanctions from authorities.

KCIJ-Newstapa will be releasing further evidence that shows that the mission of Hyundai Motor's fake rally contractors is solely to disrupt other rallies and protests, and that this mission is pre-arranged with Hyundai Motor.