People Power Party Urges Accountability and Countermeasures for SKT Hacking... Announces Formation of Task Force

Kim Sanghoon: "Incident Caused by Failure to Fulfill Information Protection Obligations"
Political Circles Unite in Criticizing SKT Hacking Incident
Yoon Hanhong: "Cancellation Fees Should Be Addressed for Carrier Switches"
Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee to Closely Examine at April 30 Hearing

On April 29, the People Power Party criticized SK Telecom, demanding clear accountability and the implementation of practical countermeasures in response to the recent leak of USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) information. The party also announced plans to establish a task force named the “SK Telecom Consumer Rights and Personal Information Protection TF,” which will address the causes of the incident, the extent of the damage, and response measures.

Kim Sanghoon, Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, stated at the floor countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, “The information leaked this time is core authentication data that can be directly linked to USIM cloning. This could lead to serious secondary crimes such as identity theft, financial fraud, and the activation of burner phones. This is a grave information security incident that goes beyond a simple personal information leak.”

He further emphasized, “For incidents caused by a company’s failure to fulfill its information protection obligations, clear accountability must be established and practical countermeasures must be put in place.”

Kim also noted, “Han Ducksoo, Acting President and Prime Minister, is making every effort to manage the situation and prevent recurrence by instructing the Ministry of Science and ICT to thoroughly assess the adequacy of USIM protection and replacement measures, as well as to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the causes of the incident. Nevertheless, public anxiety continues to spread due to issues such as a shortage of USIM stock and concerns about secondary damage.”

He added, “The People Power Party plans to form the ‘SK Telecom Consumer Rights and Personal Information Protection’ TF on April 29. The task force will urgently convene a meeting to review the causes of the incident, the extent of the damage, and response measures, and will develop concrete measures to prevent recurrence.”

Kim Sanghoon, the Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is speaking at the floor countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly on the 14th. 2025.2.14 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

On April 18, SK Telecom suffered a hacking incident that resulted in the leak of customer information, including the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), and USIM authentication keys. If stolen USIM information is embedded into a new USIM chip and inserted into a mobile phone, a cloned phone can be created?a process known as USIM Swapping. If USIM-related data such as IMSI and IMEI are combined with other personal information, the damage could become even more severe.

According to data submitted by SK Telecom to Choi Minhee, a Democratic Party lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, the company’s security monitoring center first detected abnormal data movement at 6:09 p.m. on April 18. The total amount of data transferred reached 9.7GB, which is equivalent to about 9,000 books of 300 pages each, or approximately 2.7 million pages.

Political circles are voicing criticism regarding the SKT USIM hacking incident. At a National Assembly Political Affairs Committee inquiry the previous day, Kang Minkook, a People Power Party lawmaker, said, “This hacking incident is akin to the password of our home door lock being leaked. The leak of information for 25 million people is a matter of the company’s survival.”

Yoon Hanhong, chair of the National Assembly Political Affairs Committee and a People Power Party lawmaker, also questioned Ko Haksoo, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission, asking, “If customers have to switch carriers due to hacking, shouldn’t the issue of cancellation fees also be addressed? Please review this.” The implication was that, since SKT failed to fulfill its obligation to protect customers’ personal information, customers wishing to switch carriers should not be bound by the mandatory contract period set by the carrier.

Min Byungdeok, a Democratic Party lawmaker, also pointed out, “Right now, the priority is to prevent further hacking damage, but if SKT only protects those who have voluntarily signed up for the USIM protection service, what about everyone else?”

Previously, SKT announced that it would take full responsibility for any customer damages caused by illegal USIM cloning, even for those who had subscribed to the USIM protection service. However, customers have expressed strong dissatisfaction with SKT’s response.

Customers argue that SKT failed to fulfill its obligation to protect personal information, and that shifting responsibility onto unsubscribed customers?especially when it is difficult to sign up for the USIM protection service?is unacceptable.

To subscribe to the USIM protection service, customers must access the T World application. However, due to heavy user traffic, it takes a long time to complete the process, and elderly customers who have difficulty using digital devices are effectively unable to use the service at all.

Meanwhile, the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee plans to closely examine the hacking incident involving SK Telecom at a National Assembly hearing on broadcasting and telecommunications scheduled for April 30. The committee is also seeking to summon Yoo Youngsang, CEO of SK Telecom, as a witness.