Presidential Office on 'LineYahoo' Incident: "Government Closely Consulting with Naver"

"The details of the consultation cannot be disclosed"

The Presidential Office recently stated on the 30th that "the government and Naver are in close consultation" regarding the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' administrative guidance to 'Line Yahoo' to reconsider its capital relationship with Naver.

The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications conducted administrative guidance on March 5 and on the 16th of this month to protect communication secrecy and ensure cybersecurity. In the administrative guidance, the Japanese government demanded management system improvements for Line Yahoo, including 'reconsideration of the capital relationship with Naver.'

A Presidential Office official explained to Asia Economy on the same day, "We are conducting consultations respecting Naver's requests. However, the details of the consultations are corporate strategic secrets and cannot be disclosed."

Line Yahoo is a company that provides the 'Line' service developed by Naver's Japanese subsidiary NHN Japan and 'Yahoo,' the largest portal site operated by SoftBank. A holding company, A Holdings, which is jointly owned 50-50 by Naver and SoftBank, holds 64.5% of the shares.

After a massive leak of Line Yahoo customer information due to a Naver Cloud hacking incident in November last year, SoftBank began efforts to gain control of Line's management by purchasing shares of A Holdings. With the Japanese government's support, the issue escalated beyond a corporate matter to a diplomatic issue.

Regarding criticism circulating online that "the Japanese government is trying to drive out Korean companies," a Presidential Office official drew a clear line, stating, "This is unrelated to diplomacy."