Im Tae-hee, Gyeonggi Superintendent of Education, "Doing Our Best to Minimize Damage from Leaked Scores of 2nd Year High School National Academic Assessment"

Exterior view of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education Southern Building

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lim Tae-hee, Superintendent of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, announced on the 20th that he will minimize student damage through active cooperation with police investigations and thorough internal system inspections regarding the leakage of the nationwide joint academic achievement evaluation results for high school 2nd graders. He especially emphasized that this incident will be an opportunity to perfect the digital platform led by the Provincial Office of Education.

Superintendent Lim released a press statement on the same day, saying, "The nationwide joint academic achievement evaluation conducted last November was managed through the Provincial Office of Education’s own system due to the schedule of the College Scholastic Ability Test," and added, "It is necessary to verify the facts whether the data leakage was caused by hacking or a system issue."

He continued, "We will cooperate to the fullest extent with the Cyber Investigation Division of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency regarding this matter and do our best to inspect and supplement the internal system," adding, "We feel a heavy responsibility as the data leakage could harm students."

He also explained, "Since it is difficult to contact students individually, we first issued an apology statement through the Provincial Office of Education’s website and provided guidance on follow-up measures."

Superintendent Lim stated, "We will closely monitor the investigation results and operate an emergency situation room to sincerely respond to questions and issues such as damage status and guide relief methods," emphasizing, "We are currently working with experts to supplement the system to prevent the data from circulating and to protect personal information, and we will take protective measures such as filing complaints if problems arise from the distribution of the data in the future."

He particularly stressed, "This incident should be an opportunity to perfect the digital platform led by the Provincial Office of Education. Establishing the system is crucial," and promised, "We will cooperate fully with cyber investigations and internal inspections to scientifically correct any errors through thorough investigation of the cause."

On the same day, the Provincial Office of Education held a response meeting chaired by Han Jeong-sook, the 2nd Deputy Superintendent, and formed a 'Personal Information Breach Response Team' to thoroughly analyze the incident and prepare measures to prevent recurrence in cooperation with related organizations. Additionally, an emergency situation room was set up on the 3rd floor of the Uijeongbu Northern Government Complex in the afternoon to handle civil complaints and provide guidance on relief procedures to prevent secondary damage from personal information leakage.

The Provincial Office of Education reported to the police after receiving a tip the previous day that the high school 2nd graders’ nationwide joint academic achievement evaluation results from last November had been leaked through messengers and other means. Along with requesting an investigation, the office also asked for the immediate deletion of personal information data that had been uploaded without authorization on messenger platforms.