Noh Yong-seok, the First Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, apologizes for the personal information leak related to 'All-in-Startup' at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 22nd. [Yonhap News]

It is projected that even if administrative fines are imposed on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and its affiliated organizations for the incident involving the leak of personal information and startup ideas of thousands of 'All-in-Startup' applicants, the amount will be limited to hundreds of millions of won.

Currently, major corporations have been fined hundreds of billions of won, leading to criticism that this is inconsistent and ineffective.

According to data submitted to Rep. Lee Yang-soo of the People Power Party by the Personal Information Protection Commission on the 23rd, the maximum administrative fine imposed on public institutions for personal information leaks from 2021 to the present was 703 million won to the National Research Foundation of Korea in January of this year.

This penalty was imposed after the hacking incident in June last year resulted in the leak of names and mobile phone numbers of 120,000 individuals.

Following this, Jeonbuk National University (623 million won), Korea Public Official Pension Service (532 million won), and the Korea Association of Social Welfare Centers (483 million won) were fined in descending order.

In contrast, for corporations, the highest amount is 624.7 billion won, recently imposed on Coupang. This is followed by SK Telecom (134.7 billion won), Meta (21.6 billion won), Louis Vuitton (21.3 billion won), Kakao (15.1 billion won), and Christian Dior Couture Korea (13.4 billion won).

The significant gap in administrative fines imposed on corporations and institutions is due to differences in calculation criteria.

The Personal Information Protection Act stipulates that administrative fines can be imposed up to 3% of total sales, but sales not related to the leak can be excluded.

However, for public institutions that have no sales or find it difficult to calculate sales, the maximum administrative fine has been set at 2 billion won.

Based on this, it is anticipated that the administrative fines to be imposed on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and its affiliated organizations for the recent leak incident will be at most in the hundreds of millions of won range.

In fact, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which had personal information stolen in a number similar to the '5,000 people' reported as the leak scale by the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development, an affiliate of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, was recently fined 273 million won.

Rep. Lee emphasized, "As the current regulations calculate administrative fines, the fines for public institutions are drastically lower compared to private companies. To prevent incidents like 'All-in-Startup' where public institutions leak citizens' information, thorough security measures and corresponding punitive fines must be imposed."

Han Sung-sook, nominee for Prime Minister (Minister of SMEs and Startups), apologizes for the recent personal information leak from 'All-in-Startup' as she commutes to the preparatory office for the confirmation hearing at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 22nd. [Yonhap News]