Seoul Facilities Corp. has drawn criticism over its plan to offer 5,000 won per affected user in response to a personal data breach involving about 4.62 million people, with questions mounting over whether the compensation is adequate.
Seoul Metropolitan Council member Im Gyu-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea (Jungnang District 2) said the corporation's handling of the incident — not just the compensation amount but its entire response — was flawed, and called for more substantive victim relief and accountability.
According to Im, a security firm notified the corporation in July 2024 of signs that personal data had been leaked, but the corporation failed to immediately alert the Seoul Metropolitan Government and relevant authorities, and did not promptly notify affected users. The breach became public only after a police investigation, and individual notifications to victims were not sent until nearly two years later.
A class-action lawsuit is now taking shape. A law firm has identified several key failures by the corporation: sensitive personal data was stored in a state accessible without identity verification; the corporation failed to detect the breach for about one year and seven months; and in January, a development error exposed more than 850 internal documents on its website.
Critics also note that the corporation's response falls short compared with the heavy fines levied against major companies that suffered recent data breaches. Coupang Inc was fined 624.6 billion won ($436 million), SK Telecom 134.7 billion won, and LG Uplus 6.8 billion won.
"It is the height of irresponsibility for an institution with data security so weak it could be hacked by a middle schooler to try to bury the matter with 5,000 won per person," Im said. "This incident goes beyond a simple hacking case — it is a test of public institutions' capacity to protect personal data, manage crises, and restore public trust. The corporation must transparently disclose the cause of the breach, hold those responsible strictly accountable, and put in place real measures for victim relief and prevention of recurrence."
7toy7@heraldcorp.com
