[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Personal Information Protection Commission announced on the 3rd that it has recommended improvements for 556 cases of privacy concerns found in laws and regulations revised or enacted by various government ministries over the past four years.
According to the Commission, from September 2016 to September this year, it conducted a preliminary evaluation of privacy infringement factors on 1,279 government legislative bills involving personal information processing and took these measures accordingly.
Among the 556 cases recommended for improvement, 302 cases (54.4%) involved "excessive collection of personal information beyond the intended purpose due to customary practices."
In these cases, it was recommended to retain only the minimum information necessary for personal identification and contact in application forms, and to delete unnecessary personal information unrelated to the application purpose, such as gender, education background, and workplace.
Additionally, 137 cases (24.6%) were recommended for improvement due to the collection and use of resident registration numbers without clear legal or enforcement ordinance grounds. There were 92 cases (16.6%) where recommendations were made to establish legal grounds and specify the scope of provision regarding requests for personal information held by third parties. By type, among the 556 improvement recommendations, 55.4% were related to form improvements and 44.6% to article revisions.
By ministry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport received the most improvement recommendations with 77 cases, followed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (63 cases), Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (40 cases), Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (39 cases), Ministry of the Interior and Safety (39 cases), Ministry of Justice (26 cases), Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (25 cases), Ministry of Environment (22 cases), and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (20 cases).
Yoon Jong-in, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission, stated, "Clearly defining the purpose of personal information processing and collecting only the minimum necessary personal information within the required scope in a lawful and fair manner is the fundamental principle of personal information protection." He added, "We will thoroughly conduct preliminary evaluations of privacy infringement factors to ensure this principle is well observed."
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