"No Legal Basis for Class Actions Over Personal Data Breaches"
Minister of Justice Jung Seongho stated on the 9th that, in relation to the Coupang data breach incident, there is a need to introduce a domestic class action system.
During a National Assembly interpellation session that day, Minister Jung said, "We have compiled the Ministry of Justice's top 10 legislative priorities that we hope will be passed in the first half of this year," adding, "One of them is the enactment of the Class Action Act."
In response to a question from Park Jumin, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, who asked, "In relation to the damages from the Coupang data breach, the victims filed a class action lawsuit in the United States against the parent company, but we do not have such a system in our country, do we?", Minister Jung replied, "There is no legal basis that allows class action lawsuits in connection with personal data breaches."
Minister Jung also strongly emphasized his view by saying he "fully agrees" when Assemblyman Park asked, "With respect to repeated personal data breaches, the actions that the government or private consumers can take in our country have been limited. Shouldn't this change now?"
Assemblyman Park explained, "Among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there are only three that do not have a class action system, and one of them is our country."
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