Police reopen case involving controversial hand gesture in MapleStory video

Police will reopen a case involving an animator accused of inserting a controversial hand gesture into a promotional video for Nexon’s flagship online game, MapleStory.

A promotional video for Nexon's online game MapleStory, featuring the Angelic Buster Remaster, was taken down after some viewers accused the head animator of deliberately inserting a controversial hand gesture associated with misandry into the video. Pictured is one of the frames accused of including the hand gesture. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Seocho Police Precinct will reopen a case involving an animator accused of inserting a controversial hand gesture into a promotional video for Nexon’s flagship online game, MapleStory.

The precinct acknowledged that its decision to close the case last month was “faulty” and vowed to “resume a thorough and fair reinvestigation as soon as we reach an agreement with the prosecution, which is still examining the case.”

The case initially arose last November when some online users claimed that a promotional video a third-party animator had supplied to Nexon and other game companies displayed a “crab hand” gesture that is used in certain internet circles to ridicule the size of men's genitals.

A female employee of the production company filed a complaint against the online posters the following June stating that she'd been subject to harassment including doxxing and sexual insults over the video. She accused the commenters of defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act and digital sex crimes under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

Police initially elected not to forward the case to prosecutors, determining that the netizens were “merely expressing their opinions on what they perceived as inappropriate actions by radical feminists, albeit in a somewhat rude and mocking manner.”

The decision drew backlash, with critics arguing that the precinct appeared to condone excessive online attacks. The government received numerous complaints through its online communication portal alleging that investigators were tolerating human rights violations.

The person who'd drawn the initial gesture was later revealed to be a man in his 40s.

BY BAE JAE-SUNG [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]