National Assembly Science Committee Selects Chey Taewon as Witness for 'SKT Hacking' Hearing

The National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on April 30 selected SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as a witness for the parliamentary hearing on the SK Telecom USIM hacking incident.

Choi Minhee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and chairperson of the committee, stated in the afternoon, "This is a procedure to add witnesses and others required for today's hearing in accordance with Article 129 of the National Assembly Act and Articles 2 and 5 of the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly." She proposed the motion to summon Chairman Chey as a witness at the hearing.

With no objections raised, Chairperson Choi declared, "The motion is passed," and added, "I ask that minor matters such as withdrawal of the attendance request or changes to the schedule be delegated to the chairperson and the secretaries."

The committee decided to summon Chairman Chey because SK Telecom CEO Yoo Youngsang, who appeared at the hearing, did not give a definitive answer regarding the waiver of penalty fees for contract termination. On this day, lawmakers urged that SK Telecom subscribers who cancel their service following the hacking incident should be exempted from penalty fees, as the termination would be due to the company's fault. However, CEO Yoo responded, "We will review the matter comprehensively," and did not commit to waiving the penalty fees.

Vice Minister Kang stated regarding the penalty waiver, "We will review the matter strictly from a legal perspective without considering any specific company," and added, "We will examine it in parallel, depending on the handling of the incident and the results of the subsequent investigation."

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group (Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry) is giving a lecture at the inauguration ceremony of the National Assembly Future Industry Forum held at Sarangjae, the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 22nd. Photo by Kim Hyunmin