“Government should compensate citizens for Government24 personal information leak” ... Rep. Cho Jung-hoon

[Financial News] Calls were made for the government to provide appropriate compensation to the public over the personal information leak at Government24, the nationwide online civil petition service, in August. Private companies are offering compensation to victims, albeit in small amounts, while the government has done little to punish those responsible or provide compensation.
At a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on the 13th, Rep. Cho Jung-hoon of the People Power Party said, “Companies feel they are being treated unfairly when they are asked to pay surcharges amounting to as much as 10% of their maximum revenue and compensate victims, while personal information leaks at public institutions are simply brushed aside.” He requested that the government “submit a plan for compensating victims of information leaks at public institutions before the comprehensive audit.”

Rep. Cho added, “The victims of personal information leaks are not companies or public institutions, but the people who are the data subjects.” He stressed, “Even if a company goes bankrupt because of PIPC sanctions, the harm to individuals remains, so an appropriate compensation plan must be put in place.”
According to PIPC figures, there have been 128 personal information leak incidents at public institutions over the past five years, affecting about 7.72 million people. However, cases in which public institutions have actually been held accountable for such leaks are limited, it has been pointed out. The government has, in effect, put forward virtually no compensation measures.
PIPC Chair Song Kyung-hee explained, “We are strengthening measures, including imposing surcharges on public institutions,” and said, “There have been a total of seven requests for disciplinary action against those responsible.” She added, “We are strengthening not only disciplinary action, but also surcharge penalties and various security measures.”
Meanwhile, in a notice on Government24 on the 25th of last month, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said, “The Ministry confirmed that information that may have contained personal information was leaked through unauthorized access to the portal on August 17, 2026.” It added, “After becoming aware of the leak, we completed security measures and are conducting 24-hour monitoring.”
The personal information leak occurred in August but was announced to the public in September, in violation of the Personal Information Protection Act’s requirement to notify the public within 72 hours. The exact scale of the damage has yet to be determined.
[email protected] Lee Gu-soon Reporter