It is difficult to specify the timing for determining whether the penalty fee will be waived. Waiving the penalty fee is such a critical matter that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) cannot make the decision alone. Once the legal review is completed, it must go through board discussions and resolutions.
Ryu Young-sang, president of SK Telecom, held a press conference at the SK Telecom headquarters in Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd and made this announcement. During a National Assembly hearing on the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on the 30th, Ryu was asked whether the penalty would be waived, and he simply responded, "I will review it comprehensively and announce it," without specifying when.
Due to concerns about personal information leakage, subscribers are being hindered by the penalty issue when trying to switch from SK Telecom to other carriers, causing public dissatisfaction. Although there is a provision in the SK Telecom subscriber agreement that waives the penalty if the subscriber cancels due to the carrier's fault, criticism is emerging both inside and outside the industry that SK Telecom is dragging its feet.
Ryu noted, "I will review whether to reimburse the transportation expenses incurred by subscribers who visited SK Telecom stores to replace their SIM cards" and added, "(I) hadn’t considered transportation expenses. I feel sorry about that."
Ryu emphasized that they are doing their best to secure SIM cards. He explained, "The annual SIM card procurement volume of the three carriers, including SK Telecom, is about 5 million units," adding, "We plan to secure 1 million units in total by ordering 500,000 units in May and 500,000 units in June."
Ryu stated, "You can be assured that you can see the effect of replacing the SIM card just with the SIM protection service," and said, "Currently, more than 13 million people are subscribed to the SIM protection service, and we are automatically enrolling 1.2 million people into this service each day, ensuring that all customers will be using the SIM protection service by the 14th."
He also addressed criticisms regarding reduced investment in information security. Ryu remarked, "I won't say that the expenses we have incurred are sufficient. While SK Telecom's expenditures are lower than KT's, we have executed more than 80 billion won in annual investment in information security, including SK Broadband."
SK Telecom recognized hacking activity on the 18th of last month and reported the relevant facts to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) at 4:46 p.m. on the 20th, approximately 45 hours later. Since the 28th, the company has been conducting free SIM card replacements nationwide, but the replacement efforts are facing difficulties due to a shortage of SIM card stock.