The nation’s largest Web portal, Naver, says it will completely withdraw from editing news articles. 

In a news conference held in Seoul on Wednesday, Naver CEO Han Seong-sook said that starting from the third quarter of this year the operator will no longer edit news stories. 

Han said the move is aimed at having media firms personally edit stories. Naver will then provide profits from advertising and subscriber data to those firms. 

Naver will also remove news stories as well as a trending section from its mobile homepage. 

On the possibility of expanding the use of "out-links" which direct online users to the original media site where the story was posted, Han said her company will actively consider the move through consultations with media firms. 

The latest announcement comes after Naver unveiled a set of measures late last month following public backlash over a widening opinion rigging scandal, also known as the "druking" case. Among such measures were restricting online commenting and the number of likes allowed from a single Naver account.