[Audit Hot Figure] Kim Seungwon of the Democratic Party Presses Roborock for Answers on Preventing Personal Data Leaks

The Chinese-made robot vacuum cleaner "Roborock," which has been embroiled in a controversy over personal information leaks, was summoned to the National Assembly audit. It was Assemblyman Kim Seungwon of the Democratic Party of Korea who persistently pursued this issue during the audit session.

Kim Seungwon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is questioning at the comprehensive audit of state affairs by the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 28th. Photo by Kim Seungwon Facebook

At the comprehensive audit of state affairs by the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 28th, Assemblyman Kim stated, "Robot vacuum cleaners have become essential items in people's daily lives, but public concerns over personal information leaks and privacy violations have grown just as much."

According to Assemblyman Kim, Roborock changed its privacy policy in March of this year. Previously, it specified that "Korean customer data is processed at a U.S. data center," but now it states, "Your personal information is collected and processed directly in China." Assemblyman Kim criticized, "Even if the data subject does not consent, Roborock is allowed to grant consent to third parties at its own discretion under its rights," and added, "If you do not agree to the use of your personal information, a Roborock product costing between 1.7 million and 1.8 million won essentially becomes useless."

When Assemblyman Kim asked whether video and photo information is stored on servers, a Roborock representative initially answered, "It is stored in U.S. data centers," but then reversed the answer, saying, "The information is not stored." When Assemblyman Kim pressed the possibility of hacking, the Roborock representative responded, "As I am not a technical expert, it is difficult to give a clear answer." Yoon Han-hong, the Political Affairs Committee chair from the People Power Party, unusually granted additional questioning time to Assemblyman Kim from the Democratic Party, demanding a clear answer from the Roborock representative, highlighting the significance of Kim's points. This led Song Kyunghee, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission, to pledge institutional improvements. Chairperson Song stated, "Just as there was confusion in the witness's testimony, the flow of personal information processing has become more complicated," and added, "We will make efforts to analyze the flow of personal information."

Expressing his thoughts on the audit through social networking services (SNS), Assemblyman Kim remarked, "If the supervisory authority conducted its investigation based solely on materials provided by the companies under inspection, that is not an 'investigation,' but merely 'receiving a report.' If we are swayed by corporate logic, that itself constitutes a serious institutional failure."