While Coupang faces a potential fine of up to 1.36 trillion won, Kakao Pay's penalties for a large-scale data transfer involving over 40 million users were limited to a 5.9 billion won fine (Personal Information Protection Commission) and a 13 billion won penalty (Financial Supervisory Service), sparking controversy over differential treatment.

Police have launched a full-scale investigation into Kakao Pay, which is suspected of illegally providing personal information of approximately 40.45 million users to Alipay in China. 

The civic group, Liberty Korea Patriotism Group, announced on the 14th that the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency has begun a full investigation approximately 1 year and 9 months after filing the complaint. 

This case was originally assigned to the Suseo Police Station in Seoul, but at the time, the police attempted to close the case early, citing that it was "a matter being investigated by the Financial Supervisory Service." 

However, given the immense scale of the incident involving the transfer of sensitive information of a vast majority of the public to a foreign entity, the investigation was reopened by the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency following strong public criticism of an insufficient investigation. 

According to investigations by the Financial Supervisory Service and the Personal Information Protection Commission, Kakao Pay transmitted 54.2 billion pieces of information, including encrypted phone numbers, email addresses, and charging balances, without user consent from 2018 to May 2024. 

In Coupang's case, the information leak was the act of a single employee. In contrast, the significance of Kakao Pay's case lies in the fact that it occurred at the company level during business collaborations. 

Kakao Pay transferred personal information in an inadequately encrypted state without user consent during the process of providing credit information to Alipay, its second-largest shareholder, to register it as a payment method on the Apple App Store. 

While Coupang faces a potential fine of up to 1.36 trillion won, Kakao Pay's penalties for a large-scale data transfer involving over 40 million users were limited to a 5.9 billion won fine (Personal Information Protection Commission) and a 13 billion won penalty (Financial Supervisory Service), sparking controversy over differential treatment. 

Oh Sang-jong, representative of the Liberty Korea Patriotism Group, compared the case to Coupang's information leak and emphasized that "as this is a suspected organized leak at the company level, not an individual employee's misconduct, a fair and stringent investigation and punishment must be carried out." 

Reporter Lim Yo-hee