Back-to-back personal data breaches in Korea: What eeds to change?

쿠팡발 초대형 개인정보 유출 대한민국 보안 체계에 경고등 켜졌다


Welcome to Within The Frame, where we bring the most pressing issues across the globe into focus. I'm Kim Mok-yeon.
South Korea is reeling after a massive personal data breach at Coupang, an incident that exposed information from tens of millions of users and immediately reignited national concern over digital security.
And as details emerge, the spotlight has widened to past breaches at SK Telecom, KT, and Lotte Card, raising a deeper question: how does a country known as an ICT powerhouse continue to suffer failures that span both internal controls and external defenses?
So what concrete fixes in law, security, and company oversight are urgently needed to stop this from happening again?

For answers to this, we are joined by Beomsoo Kim, Professor at the Graduate School of Information at Yonsei University and Executive Director at Barun ICT Research Center. Welcome.

Also joining us is our go-to attorney, An Junseong.

1. Recently, we’ve seen consecutive personal data breaches at major companies.
Why is Korea still so vulnerable, even as an ICT leader? Is this problem only prevalent in Korea?



2. At the same time, some say companies collect and keep far more personal data than they need, which makes breaches worse.
What is your view on that?


3. What’s striking is that all the companies hit by breaches this year had received ISMS-P certification under the national security and privacy system.
What are your thoughts on the need for the certification to be revisited?


4. What's quite unique with Coupang’s case was that it involved an insider.
What does that tell us about how companies manage their security staff and internal controls? Why do companies remain so vulnerable?


5. SK Telecom and KT suffered major breaches due largely to external hacking. What basic protections are companies still missing?


6. Based on the scale of the incident, Coupang is now facing the possibility of the largest fine ever—up to 3% of its revenue, potentially 1.2 trillion won.
In global terms, is that level of penalty meaningful?


7. Public sentiment is shifting toward tougher penalties, and President Lee has ordered the government to “move toward implementing a punitive damages system.”
For viewers, what exactly are punitive damages, and do you see them being applied here?


8. Financial regulators warn of voice-phishing and smishing risks from leaked data. What should consumers be most alert to?



9. As this becomes the largest personal data breach in Korea’s history, we're seeing movement toward class-action lawsuits. What’s your outlook on those cases?


We'll have to leave our discussion right here, many thanks to Prof.Kim and Attorney AN, we appreciate it.

That will be all from us on Within the Frame.
Be sure to tune in next time as we continue to explore the stories that matter. Until then, stay informed and engaged!

#CoupangDataBreach #UserExodus #PrivacyRegulation #쿠팡보안사고 #이탈가속화 #규제강화추진 #arirangnews

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2025-12-05, 20:30 (KST)