Science and ICT Committee Selects 42 Witnesses and Observers for Parliamentary Audit, Including TVING and Others in '40 Million Account Leak' Case

The National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee has selected Choi Juhee, CEO of TVing, and Yoon Sanghyun, CEO of CJ ENM, as witnesses for this year's parliamentary audit in relation to the leak of 40 million accounts. Chief Information Security Officers from the three major telecommunications companies—SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus—as well as representatives from major domestic and foreign information and communications technology (ICT) firms including Google, Apple, and Meta, have also been summoned in significant numbers.

On September 22, the committee held a plenary session and adopted the "Request for Attendance of Witnesses and Reference Persons for the 2026 Parliamentary Audit." The finalized list included a total of 42 individuals: 29 witnesses and 13 reference persons.

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Hyunwoo = On the 22nd, at the plenary meeting of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, Song Kiheon, chairman of the committee and member of the Democratic Party, is processing a bill. 2026.9.22 nowwego@yna.co.kr(End)

Multiple ICT industry figures were selected as witnesses regarding personal information breach incidents. From the three telecom providers, Lee Jonghyun, Chief Information Security Officer at SK Telecom; Lee Sangyoon, Head of Information Security Department (CISO, Executive Director) at KT; and Hong Kwanhee, Head of Information Security Center (CISO, Executive Director) at LG Uplus, were included on the list.

At Coupang, Brett Anthony Mathis (CISO) was selected as a witness due to follow-up improvement measures taken after a personal data leakage incident. At Toss Payments, CEO Im Han-uk and CISO Ted Shin were both summoned to appear.

The list also included Meta Korea CEO Kim Jina; Kim Junghoon, CISO at Woowa Brothers; Park Sukyung, CEO of Duo; and Hong Seungil, CEO of Healing Paper and Gangnam Unni.

Representatives of domestic subsidiaries of major Big Tech companies were also selected as witnesses. Regarding in-app purchases, Yoon Goo, President of Google Korea, and Mark Lee, CEO of Apple Korea, were designated as witnesses.

Oh Yeonju, domestic representative of Telegram, and Shin Changsub, CEO of X Korea, are expected to be questioned regarding the spread of illegal information and drug transaction posts distributed through social media.

In the broadcasting and media sector, Heo Seohong, CEO of GS Retail, and Kim Jaegyeom, CEO of Lotte Homeshopping, were named over issues related to TV home shopping license renewals and the protection of small suppliers. Park Hyunjin, Vice President of KT, and Kim Byungjin, Head of KT’s Media Business Division, were summoned over the suspension of Unification TV transmissions and related compensation matters.

Meanwhile, those selected as witnesses will be required to attend the National Assembly. If they refuse to appear without justifiable reasons, they may be subject to imprisonment for up to three years or a fine ranging from 10 million won to 30 million won.

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