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Count President Park Geun-hye among the millions of Korean up in arms about the recent theft
and leak of personal data. The president didn't mince words on Monday,
saying she would personally see to it that anyone who is proven to have been involved
is held responsible. Our presidential office correspondent Eoh
Jin-joo has this report. President Park is firm about holding those involved in the massive
data leak of 20 million bank and credit card users responsible.
"There must be a thorough investigation into all of the nation's financial companies, to
find out whether there were more data leaks outside of the three credit card firms in
question."
Meeting with her top secretaries on Monday,... the president described the leak as [quote]
"something that should have never happened," and ordered officials to devise measures to
ensure that customers do not suffer when financial firms collect and store personal data.
She also urged those firms to find other ways to identify individuals... rather than relying
solely on resident registration numbers, which are widely used in Korea.
Other options, she says, could include the use of driver's license numbers.
President Park also slammed Deputy Prime Minister Hyun Oh-seok's controversial remarks last
week on the data leak,... saying they only increased distrust among the public.
Hyun faced strong backlash from the public and politicians after saying that [quote]
"foolish people always try to put the blame on others when something happens" and "don't
we all agree with financial firms when we provide personal information".
The comments came in response to questions on whether the heads of the nation's financial
watchdogs will resign over the incident.
"I hope that all government officials, from now on, will work with the people in mind...
and respect them. And should something like this happen again, I will definitely hold
those involved responsible.
"President Park called for a swift passage of a bill on financial consumer protection
at a provisional session of the National Assembly in February to prevent similar crises from
happening again. Eoh Jin-joo, Arirang News."