Representative of Student Human Rights Group Investigating Number of Lawsuit Participants
"100,000 KRW per Victim"... Compensation Lawsuit Next Month
Recently, students who took last year's National Joint Academic Achievement Evaluation (Academic Evaluation) and whose names, grades, and affiliated schools were leaked online are preparing a collective damage compensation lawsuit.
According to a report by Yonhap News on the 26th, Kim Mo-gun (18), the representative of a student rights organization in Suncheon, Jeonnam, is gathering people to file a collective damage compensation lawsuit against the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education regarding the recent academic evaluation score leak incident. Since the 24th, Kim has been identifying participants through online surveys, and it is known that about 940 people have expressed their intention to participate so far.
Kim said, "The online survey is simply to ask about the intention to participate, and some respondents may not actually intend to participate," adding, "After collecting personal information through the survey, we plan to open a group chat room and provide explanations about the lawsuit to the respondents, after which the exact number of participants will be tallied." He also stated, "After consulting with a law firm and analyzing various precedents, it was determined that claiming 100,000 KRW per individual affected by the personal information leak is appropriate. Once the number of participants is confirmed, the final claim amount will be calculated by multiplying that number by 100,000 KRW."
Kim aims to gather 3,000 participants out of the approximately 270,000 victims by the 27th. Additionally, starting from the 27th, he plans to send the 'Notice of Compensation Demand for Personal Information Leakage' to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education two to three times. Kim said, "From after the 10th of next month, we will begin formally filing the lawsuit."
Leak Confirmed on the 19th... Investigation Underway
Earlier, on the 19th, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education confirmed signs that data from last November's National Joint Academic Achievement Evaluation, organized by the provincial office, had been leaked and requested a police investigation.
On the same day, a post claiming to have hacked the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education server and accessed the data was uploaded to an internet community, and an encrypted messenger app, Telegram, saw the distribution of a file titled 'Entire 2nd Year Individual Score Sheets.' The file contained the test scores, affiliated schools, names, genders, and other information of approximately 270,000 second-year high school students who took the exam across 15 metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide, excluding the Gyeongnam and Chungnam Offices of Education. The total number of examinees nationwide was about 300,000.
Subsequently, the education office sent text messages to all second-year high school students nationwide informing them of the leak and efforts to prevent recurrence, but the anger and anxiety of the affected students and their parents have not subsided. The police are conducting a multifaceted investigation into the leak route by analyzing the servers of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education and the score processing company entrusted with score management by the education office.
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