Jealousy behind Gangnam Patch

Owners of websites "Gangnam Patch" and "Hannam Patch" were arrested by the police for online defamation. Unexpectedly, the owners turned out to be young women in their 20s. Gangnam Patch, which is an Instagram account, caused a stir on the Internet by exposing the private information of some 100 people including celebrities and athletes and falsely calling them prostitutes or plastic surgery addicts. The name "Gangnam Patch" is a combination of "Gangnam" and "Dispatch," which is an entertainment media that specializes in exposing facts about celebrities in South Korea. Gangnam Patch posted numerous false rumors, leaving many victims.

The motive for the crime was jealousy. The Gangnam Patch owner met a girl in a club where she goes to regularly and found out that the girl is the only granddaughter of the chairman of a medium enterprise. Feeling jealous and frustrated, she started uploading posts on the Internet to slander the wealthy girl based on rumors that she heard in the club. That was how she started the website. Even when her account was shut down by Instagram due to her victims' reports, she persistently kept the activity by opening 30 accounts. She thought that the police would not be able to catch her as Instagram's server is located overseas.

Although Christianity includes jealousy in the seven sins, jealousy is a natural emotion. Jealousy requires someone to compare with, as it comes from comparison. People compare themselves with others when they are not confident about such as properties, talents, and appearance. The owner of Gangnam Patch felt jealous of the privileged. Her jealousy of the granddaughter of a business owner was particularly strong because being born in a rich family cannot be earned with efforts.

Jealousy can be a motive to work hard but extreme jealousy can hurt others. According to statistics, one out of four criminals committed crimes out of jealousy, and most of them were female. An interesting point about the owner of Gangnam Patch is that she was jealous of someone who she barely knew, which is not a typical form of jealousy. Perhaps SNS has expended the scope of comparison. Women in their 20s, a club in Gangnam, plastic surgery, and privacy exposure: It seems that materialistic society is reflected in every element of the case.

정성희기자 shchung@donga.com