Kakao Provides Contact Information of Victims' Acquaintances to Families of Jeju Air Disaster Victims

Kakao will provide the contact information of acquaintances of the victims to the bereaved families of the Jeju Air passenger plane crash at Muan International Airport.

According to industry sources on the 9th, Kakao decided to provide the bereaved families with contact information of acquaintances from the victims' KakaoTalk accounts. However, it is known that no information other than phone numbers will be provided.

Previously, Kakao and Naver stated that they could not deliver the victims' account information and passwords to the bereaved families due to personal information policies and technical reasons. However, this decision seems to have been made following requests for contact information needed for obituaries. Consultations were also held with the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Personal Information Protection Commission.

Additionally, considering that many victims lost or misplaced their mobile phones, the Ministry of Science and ICT requested Samsung, Google, Apple, and others to provide contact information backed up in the cloud. Samsung Electronics decided to provide phone numbers to the bereaved families, and Apple made the same decision. Google is reportedly still reviewing the matter. Besides this, Samsung Electronics is operating service centers on-site to support smartphone repairs, and telecom companies are providing support by installing mobile base stations and free Wi-Fi at the airport and joint memorial altars.