The Korean government has begun investigating the unauthorized disposal of personal information paper documents and related field surveys. Besides, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security revised the Personal Information Protection Act, and not only companies that did not properly manage personal information paper documents, but also punishment for dismantling companies that had not been properly shredded.

According to the government and related organizations on October 17, the Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a special field check on the P university hospital and S information communication, which suspected that the paper documents containing personal information were not properly shredded on October 16 and 17.

The Ministry of Home Affairs visited two places to investigate personal information management personnel and to check the paper document destruction process.

"We had a special inspection as there was suspicion that the document containing the personal information was leaked out in an improper way," said an official of the Ministry of Public Security.

This special inspection was carried out without notice. This is different from the inspection of personal information protection, which is carried out proactively every month by the administrative department. The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, in particular, worked with the police to carry out on-the-spot inspections and secured the grounds for the violation.

It has previously filed complaints about the fact that paper documents containing personal information such as application forms, inheritance statements, and health certificates have not been shredded and are being thrown away at the abandoned place.

The ministry plans to review the level of implementation of the personal information protection law of personal information processing staff and processing companies in general, not just on special field inspections. We will also revise the Privacy Act. In the current law, only corporations or individuals entrusted with the disposal of personal information are subject to punishment, and there is no provision to punish the shredding companies.

Jang Young-hwan, the personal information protection officer, said, "The personal information handler who commissioned the shredding company to shred paper documents is highly likely to be punished by the fine, while the shredder entrusted with the shredding business is planning to supplement the law "He also said," In addition, we plan to prevent individuals from violating laws from recurring by educating individuals who are abolished."

Meanwhile, experts point out that in order to prevent a recurrence, punishment of the trustee and comprehensive government measures to protect personal information are required. Professor Kwon Hun-young, a professor at Korea University`s Information Security Graduate School, said, "This issue is not a document written by hand, but the result of using information and communication equipment is offline." The information and communication sector is under the control of the KCC or the Ministry of Information and Communication, But the actual supervision over each institution requires a system in which each department has jurisdiction over the personal information protection duties of its affiliated institutions, just as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Financial Institutions do as the Financial Supervisory Service. "

By Lim Seong Yeob starleaf@


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