Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it is investigating the leak of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s personal information in relation to a trip he took in June.
The ministry’s announcement of the probe comes a day after the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) news outlet reported that the passport details of 168 people, including Lee, his wife, his security officers, and South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, had been posted on a paid website in June.
South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a press briefing that a “comprehensive and in-depth investigation” was being conducted and would include “technical inspections of computers and email accounts related to events during the president’s overseas trip in June,” according to local media outlet Yonhap News.
The ministry was treating the incident as a leak, rather than a hack, he added, saying that it had taken measures to prevent further damage, “including having the leaked information deleted from the website in question and checking for any other instances of personal information exposure.”
The ministry is also arranging for all those affected by the leak to be given fresh passports and vowed to take measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring, and said that as soon as it became aware of the breach, it asked the relevant agencies to investigate.
It is working with police and other authorities to determine how the information was disclosed and is inspecting computers and email accounts used in connection with the trip, adding that there was no evidence, thus far, showing the information had spread further than the website in question.
According to local media, the file was uploaded under the name “passenger list” days before Lee’s June trip to Europe, which included visits to Belgium, Italy, and France for a G7 leaders’ summit, and has been available on the internet for five months.
The outlet said that on the website, paid members and antivirus companies can download files without restrictions and therefore explicitly warns against uploading personal information.
KBS said it had informed the presidential office after discovering the information.
At the G7 summit Lee was heading to at the time of the leak, the leaders of each of the member states issued a joint statement expressing concern over North Korea.
“We express deep concern about North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions,” leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK said in the June 17 statement.
South Korea is not part of the G7, but Lee attended the summit at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, who was hosting the event in Evian-les-Bains on the French shore of Lake Geneva.
The call was rejected by Pyongyang, with Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, saying the country’s nuclear status was no longer subject to negotiation.
Denuclearization is the “line of no retreat that can never be crossed,” she said, adding that any attempt to undermine the interests of a nuclear-armed state would amount to “the worst option of inviting disaster.”
Since then, tensions have increased between the two Koreas, following a landmine explosion in the demilitarized zone in September, which injured several South Korean troops.
Seoul has demanded an apology, de-mined the site, and test-fired a hypersonic missile to ensure it’s prepared to respond to threats. It also proposed military talks with North Korea to de-escalate tensions.
Pyongyang has not yet acknowledged Seoul’s offer, dismissing the issue of the landmine explosion, and threatened to resume loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border before the end of October; however, the South Korean military, as of Nov. 2, has not detected any such broadcasts, according to local reporting.
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