O Se-yoon, head of the Naver Labor Union branch (second from the left), is speaking at the emergency discussion on "The Butterfly Effect of the Line Diplomacy Disaster" held at the National Assembly on the 25th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
The Naver labor union claimed that selling shares in relation to the Line Yahoo incident would result in losing the future.
On the 25th, Oh Se-yoon, head of the Naver branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' Chemical Fiber and Food Workers' Union, stated at an emergency forum titled "The Butterfly Effect of the Line Diplomatic Disaster" held at the National Assembly, "The current issue of the Line Yahoo sale is clearly a fight on a tilted playing field, and government attention and support are desperately needed."
He added, "I request Naver's management and Lee Hae-jin, the representative of A Holdings (Line Yahoo's parent company) and Naver's Global Investment Officer (GIO)," emphasizing, "If a decision to sell is made now solely based on political pressure and immediate managerial losses, not only the service but ultimately the people and passion will be lost."
Oh said, "Furthermore, it could lead to losing Naver's future," and added, "If the price of efforts to succeed in the global market is anxiety about the future, no one will attempt new challenges or initiatives going forward."
He continued, "Line Plus and other Line affiliates in Korea have collaborated with Naver for a long time, building connections," explaining, "We are genuinely concerned that the technology and services accumulated by Korean developers over more than ten years might gradually be handed over according to Japan's plans during this entire process."
Previously, in November last year, a PC of a subcontractor handling Naver Cloud's work was infected with malware due to a cyberattack, leading to personal information leakage at Line Yahoo, which shared some internal systems. In response, the Japanese government demanded a review of the capital relationship with Line Yahoo, raising suspicions that the messenger 'Line' might be forcibly taken away. The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications conducted administrative guidance twice in March and April this year and required Line Yahoo to present specific countermeasures by the 1st of next month.
At the forum, there was also a call to pay attention from the perspective of technological sovereignty. Professor Yoon Dae-kyun of Ajou University's Department of Software said, "We often see cases where artificial intelligence (AI) gives answers that differ from our common sense, which can result from failing to properly protect data sovereignty and technological sovereignty," adding, "Therefore, the Line Yahoo incident should be regarded not merely as a business relationship issue but also from the perspective of technological sovereignty."
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