The appearance of an SK Telecom agency in Jongno-gu, Seoul. /Courtesy of News1

SK Telecom's stock price turned weak in the afternoon of the 4th. This was because the government concluded that there were aspects of the incident involving subscriber identification module (USIM) hacking that were the company's fault, and that it should waive the penalties for customers canceling contracts.

SK Telecom shares traded at 56,400 won in the KOSPI market at 2:22 p.m. the same day, down 2.08% (1,200 won) from the previous day. At the same time, KT's stock price rose 2.83% (1,600 won) from the previous day, trading at 58,100 won.

SK Telecom shares began trading at 56,700 won that day and rose to as high as 57,800 won during the session, but have shown a downward trend again following the announcement of the final investigation results by the joint investigation team on the SK Telecom hacking incident.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, 33 types of malware were found on a total of 28 servers belonging to SK Telecom. The investigation team evaluated that SK Telecom's customer information management was inadequate, as it did not comply with the information security management system (ISMS) certification standards.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and ICT has determined that it is appropriate to waive the penalties for contract termination, given that SK Telecom's fault has been found. Article 43 of the SK Telecom terms of service stipulates that 'penalties may be waived in cases of termination due to the company's fault.'