President Lee Orders Strict Accountability for Large-Scale Personal Information Leak at Tving

President Lee Presides Over Senior Secretary Meeting on the 11th
Criticizes, "Failed to Take Action Despite Knowing Security Vulnerabilities"

President Lee Jae-myung has instructed the relevant authorities to swiftly and accurately determine the circumstances of the massive personal data breach that occurred on the online video service (OTT) platform Tving on September 11, 2026, adding, "Strict accountability must be enforced in accordance with the law and principles."

Presiding over the Senior Secretary Meeting at the Blue House on the afternoon of the same day, President Lee stated, "Recently, an incident occurred at an online video service company in which over 40 million pieces of personal information were leaked, causing growing anxiety and concern among the public." He further remarked, "It has been reported that the company identified security vulnerabilities in advance but failed to take the necessary measures."

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Senior Secretary Meeting held at the Blue House on September 11, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

President Lee stressed the need to prevent secondary crimes stemming from the abuse of leaked personal information, saying, "In this era of digital transformation, rigorous protection of personal information serves as the fundamental basis for maintaining community trust and for the stable operation of society."

He continued, "Now is the time for us, from the standpoint of national security, to further enhance our society's overall security capabilities and awareness." He emphasized, "To this end, improvements to the system that significantly strengthen responsibility for personal information across the public and private sectors, as well as domestic and foreign companies, must be expedited."

President Lee highlighted, "Starting today, an amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act—aimed at bolstering penalties for personal data breaches—has come into force. The burden resulting from neglecting personal information protection should be made incomparably greater than any potential gain, thereby making sanctions more effective."

Additionally, President Lee said, "To correct the mistaken perception that considers security as an unnecessary expense, I expect government-wide cooperation to rapidly establish comprehensive countermeasures. I also urge companies to take their heavy responsibility seriously and to expand security personnel and overhaul their systems accordingly."

According to the government announcement, Tving suffered a large-scale hacking incident that resulted in the leak of 39.54 million user accounts and 361 development projects. The leaked data covers up to 70 different types of personal information, including names, mobile phone numbers, payment history, and birth dates.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.