Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Air Force One passengers' information leaked, not hacked... passport reissuance measures underway"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it believes that the exposure of personal information belonging to 168 people aboard Air Force One, including President Lee Jae-myung and his wife, on an external website was a leak rather than a hacking incident.

Park Dusun, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, briefs reporters on the leak of personal information belonging to the presidential delegation during an overseas trip at the ministry's annex at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd. Yonhap News Agency

Park Dusun, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on Nov. 3, "As soon as we confirmed the leak in advance, the ministry requested investigations and inquiries by the relevant agencies. We are currently investigating how the leak occurred in cooperation with relevant agencies, including the National Police Agency."

He added, "We are conducting a comprehensive and in-depth investigation, including technical checks of PCs and email accounts related to the presidential overseas trip events in June. We have taken measures to prevent further damage, including having the information deleted from the website in question and checking whether any other personal information was leaked."

It was previously reported in June that a file containing the list of people aboard Air Force One had been posted on a paid website related to security. The file was reportedly found to contain personal information, such as the names and passport numbers of 168 people, including President Lee and his wife, senior government officials, working-level staff from the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Presidential Security Service employees, and members of the presidential press corps.

Park also said, "We are swiftly taking measures to ensure the smooth reissuance of passports for everyone concerned, including the president and his wife."

Asked whether the information had spread further, including on the dark web, he said, "We have not identified any such spread so far," adding that the investigation would also examine that possibility. However, when asked when the ministry became aware of the leak, he said only that "we became aware of the leak before the media report was published and requested investigations and inquiries by the relevant agencies."

Regarding reports that an employee of the ministry's Protocol Office had uploaded the material, he said, "An investigation into the matter is currently underway." He also declined to give a specific answer on whether the passenger list had been shared with other ministries or the countries visited during the overseas trip.

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