"How Can We Trust Telecom Companies That Have Been Hacked?"
The government has decided to introduce facial authentication into the mobile phone subscription process to block so-called "burner phones" that are exploited for crimes such as voice phishing. In response, the People Power Party has voiced strong opposition.
On December 21, Joo Jinwoo, a member of the People Power Party, wrote on Facebook, "From the 23rd, facial recognition will be mandatory when opening a mobile phone account," emphasizing, "The portrait rights of citizens must not be violated without individual consent."
He continued, "Recently, even the facial recognition payment system at commercial banks' ATMs was breached by a single low-quality photo," and questioned, "How can we trust telecommunications companies, which have suffered personal data breaches due to hacking, with our facial information?" Joo also pointed out, "When foreigners open a mobile phone account using a foreign registration card, there are no regulations at all," criticizing the policy as "moving backwards."
He said, "Voice phishing crimes are mainly committed by Chinese criminal organizations, so is the government saying only our citizens should be required to use facial authentication?" He urged, "The mandatory facial authentication system should be abolished immediately."
Facial authentication will be piloted by the three major mobile carriers and some budget phone carriers starting December 23, and is scheduled for full implementation from March 23 of the following year. The government is introducing facial authentication to strengthen identity verification in the mobile phone subscription process in order to block so-called "burner phones" that are exploited for crimes such as voice phishing. In addition, other forms of identification, such as the foreign registration card, national merit card, and disability registration card, will be included in the expanded application of the system from the second half of 2026.
On the same day, People Power Party spokesperson Cho Yongsul also commented, "Facial recognition is not an insurmountable barrier for those with criminal intent," emphasizing, "If someone wants to abuse the system for crime, all they have to do is go through facial recognition and open a burner phone." He added, "This is not an effective security enhancement but rather a case of 'burning down the house to catch a flea.'"
Spokesperson Cho pointed out, "A bigger problem is that there is not enough public trust in the security capabilities of both the government and the private sector," adding, "As seen in the recent fire incident at the National Computing Resources Center, the national information network remains unstable, and as demonstrated by the large-scale personal data leak at Coupang, the security systems of platform operators are also far from reassuring."
He continued, "If personal data were to be exposed to criminal organizations or hostile countries, the damage would be unimaginable," and explained, "China has required facial recognition for mobile phone subscriptions since 2019 and has faced criticism that this is being used as a means of citizen control." Spokesperson Cho urged a policy review, stating, "A mobile identification system is already in place, and it is fully possible to create alternatives using this system. The fact that the government is leading the collection of biometric data for administrative convenience is understandably causing public anxiety."
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