Police investigate sexually degrading posts targeting female doctors, journalists on physician community

Police have launched an investigation after a string of posts appeared on an online physician community exposing the personal information of female doctors, traditional Korean medicine practitioners and journalists while subjecting them to sexual insults.

According to KBS, the posts repeatedly published women's names, photos and social media accounts alongside comments rating their appearance or hurling sexual slurs. More than 200 such posts have been confirmed.

A female traditional Korean medicine practitioner, identified only as A, said she recently learned from a physician acquaintance that posts targeting her had appeared on the community.

"They told me, 'You've been tagged on this community,' and that's how I even found out it existed," A said. "When they put your real name out there and the mocking comments pile up underneath, it feels like collective madness — it's terrifying."

A was not the only victim. In one confirmed case, a female journalist's face and name were posted because she had written articles critical of doctors, with comments including wishes that she "be sexually assaulted until she develops terminal cancer."

Other posts referred to traditional Korean medicine practitioners as "shaman cockroaches," and some sexually objectified female coworkers, including comments asking whether it was acceptable to have sexual relations with dental hygienists.

The community in question is Medistaff, a closed platform open to practicing physicians and medical students, with a reported membership of around 60,000.

Medistaff previously drew scrutiny when its operators were investigated over a so-called "resident blacklist" controversy. Following a recommendation from the Korea Communications Standards Commission, the platform said at the time that it would put a monitoring system in place.

The Jongno Police Station in Seoul has opened an investigation into some of the posts on charges including insult.