Deputy Prime Minister of Science and ICT: "KT Hacking Results to Be Announced Within the Year... Investigation Personnel Deployed to Coupang"

On December 17, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Paik Kyunghoon announced that the final results of the joint public-private investigation into the KT hacking incident would be released within the year.

Minister of Science and ICT Baek Hanghun and Second Vice Minister Ryu Jemyung are conversing at the hearing on the Coupang breach incident held on the 17th at the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

At the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee hearing on the Coupang data breach held that day, Deputy Prime Minister Paik stated, "We plan to quickly wrap up the KT investigation and announce the results within the year," adding, "We will deploy as many personnel as possible for the KT hacking investigation and expedite the timing of the interim announcement for the Coupang investigation."

Deputy Prime Minister Paik reported that the internal Coupang data subject to investigation amounts to 500 terabytes (TB), and could potentially reach 1 petabyte (PB, 1000TB).

One terabyte, as a digital unit, is equivalent to the vast amount of information contained in 1,000 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Deputy Prime Minister Paik also stated that discussions are underway with the Fair Trade Commission regarding whether Coupang's business operations should be suspended in connection with the personal information leak incident.