“Can it be changed today?”
“Please come back in the afternoon.”
At 10:30 a.m. on the 28th, in front of the T World store in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a heated exchange occurred between store employees and SK Telecom subscribers.
The store was reported to have secured about 100 user identification modules (USIMs), but as of 10 a.m. that day, more than 100 subscribers had already gathered, leading to the distribution of waiting numbers. The store employee informed those who received the waiting numbers to come back after 3 p.m.
◇ “I waited over an hour, but there were no USIMs”
SK Telecom subscribers expressed their anger over the company's irresponsible response. A male customer who received a number in the 40s asked, “Does getting a number mean I can change my USIM?” The store employee replied, “Just come and see.”
After waiting for about an hour, a female customer who received a number in the 10s raised her voice, saying, “Suddenly, an employee emerged and said, 'We don’t have USIMs,' telling everyone to leave. When the people lined up protested, they started distributing waiting numbers. Why should we have to get angry to resolve an issue caused by the company?”
SK Telecom, which recently suffered a hacking attack, began offering free USIM chip replacements to users starting at 10 a.m. that day, leading to long lines outside T World stores nationwide. However, most stores were unable to receive enough USIMs from headquarters, resulting in many subscribers leaving empty-handed.
Most of the subscribers met that day were long-term customers who had used SK Telecom for over 10 years and came to change their USIM due to concerns about financial fraud. Mr. Lee Gi-sik (50), who arrived as the first customer at a store in Jang-an-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, said, “Just in case, I've erased all means of non-face-to-face authentication on my phone and I also subscribed to the USIM protection service. These days, hacking crimes have become so sophisticated that I'm really anxious. Honestly, I’ve even considered changing my phone. I’ve been using SK Telecom for over 10 years, but I still haven’t received any individual text from the company regarding USIM protection.”
Mr. A (65), who has been using SK Telecom for over 20 years, also visited a T World store around 8:40 a.m. He said, “There isn't a direct store near my home, so I took a bus and came five stops. If the company informed us whose information was compromised, it wouldn’t be this frustrating. It's the unknown that makes it worrisome.” An employee at this store arrived around 9:30 a.m. to prepare for business. When users waiting in line asked, “Can we change our USIMs?” he remained silent.
At a store near Wangsimni in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, more than 100 people had lined up as of 10 a.m. Users residing nearby from Sangwangsimni to Majang flocked to the store. However, on that day, the store reportedly secured only about 60 USIM chips.
Mr. Jeong Myeong-seon (77), who arrived at 8:10 a.m., said, “I also subscribed to the USIM protection service, but I came to change my USIM because I’m anxious. My wife also uses SK Telecom, and I’ve blocked my bank account just in case money gets withdrawn. It wouldn’t be this worrisome if I just knew which information had been leaked.”
◇ The USIM crisis seems likely to continue… severe shortage of supply
On the morning of the 28th, while SK Telecom opened the USIM replacement reservation system at 8:30 a.m., there were also conflicts between those with reservations and those waiting. Mr. An, who said he visited a T World store after making an online reservation, stated, “I made a reservation for my visit, but the agency served customers who came without a reservation first,” adding, “I don’t understand why they took reservations if they were going to do that.” On that day, the store also failed to secure enough USIMs, advising users to return at 1 p.m.
Immediately after the reservation system was opened that morning, the official T World website and application of SK Telecom faced difficulties in access due to the influx of users.
Currently, SK Telecom possesses around 1 million USIMs, which is about 4.4% of the total users, indicating that the USIM crisis is likely to persist. SK Telecom, including users of MVNO services, has approximately 24.8 million subscribers nationwide, which is about half of the entire population. SK Telecom announced that it would secure an additional 5 million USIMs by May, but this would only cover about 20% of the total users.
Earlier, SK Telecom reported on the 22nd that a leakage accident of USIM information due to malware had occurred. The Ministry of Science and ICT is currently investigating the cause and scale of the accident with a public-private joint investigation team, but has not identified the types of compromised information. The industry and government expect that it will take about two months for concrete investigative results to emerge.