"Real Name and Face Exposed, Sexually Mocked": Doctors' Online Community Under Fire for Revealing Female Doctor of Korean Medicine's Personal Information

[Financial News] Police have launched an investigation after numerous posts were found on a closed online community accessible only to doctors and medical students, exposing the personal information of a female doctor of Korean medicine, a female journalist and a hospital employee, and sexually humiliating them.
Recently, KBS reported that more than 200 posts had been identified on Medistaff in which the real names, facial photos and social media (SNS) accounts of female medical professionals were disclosed, followed by comments evaluating their appearance, profanity and sexual remarks.
Medistaff is a closed online community open only to practicing doctors and medical students. It is known to have approximately 60,000 members.
Ms. A, a female doctor of Korean medicine who was victimized, learned through an acquaintance who is a doctor that her personal information had been posted on the community.
The post disclosed Ms. A's photo, name and social media account, while comments reportedly continued with remarks about her appearance and profanity.
Ms. A said she felt afraid as the mockery continued after her personal information was exposed. She said, "When they post everything—your real name and all—and the comments below are filled with mockery, it feels like mass hysteria, and it's frightening." She added, "They are colleagues, yet viewing them solely as sexual objects is extremely dangerous."
The targets were not limited to people working in healthcare. In one case, the name and face of a female journalist who wrote an article criticizing doctors were exposed, followed by a comment saying, "Be sexually harassed until you develop terminal cancer."
There were also posts that sexually objectified female medical professionals. One post disparaged a doctor of Korean medicine by calling her a "shaman cockroach," while another asked, "Is it okay to have sex with a dental hygienist?"
KBS reportedly found more than 200 similar posts.
Medistaff previously came under fire over the so-called "resident blacklist" issue. At the time, it said it would establish a monitoring system following a recommendation from the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC). However, the discovery of these posts has once again raised questions about the effectiveness of its content management.
The Association of Korean Medicine (AKOM) is calling for Medistaff to be shut down. AKOM said it plans to ask KCSC and the National Police Agency's Cybercrime Investigation Unit, among others, to close the site in order to protect the affected female doctor of Korean medicine and respond to the relevant posts.

Meanwhile, Seoul Jongno Police Station has begun investigating some of the posts in question on suspicion of insult and other offenses.

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter