On the afternoon of the 8th, the National Assembly's Science and Technology Information Broadcasting and Communications Committee (the committee) held a solo hearing with company officials, including Ryu Young-sang, president of SK Telecom, regarding the recent hacking incident at SK Telecom (SKT), focusing on the issue of 'waiving penalties.' During the hearing, Ryu noted that if subscriber penalties were waived, 5 million subscribers might leave, resulting in a minimum loss of 7 trillion won over three years.
The committee summoned Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, as a witness, but he did not attend due to participation in a Korea-U.S. trade-related event. Committee member Choi Min-hee noted, "Chey submitted a notice explaining his absence after the deadline," adding that they would review whether Chey's reason for absence was valid and decide on any potential legal action according to current laws.
During the session, the committee pressured Ryu and other SKT executives to waive penalties, stating, "If the company's fault is recognized in the SKT terms of service, compensation for penalties to subscribers is guaranteed."
Committee members unanimously expressed that "SKT is missing the opportunity to restore customer trust to avoid losses." However, Ryu repeated that the penalty issue would be comprehensively reviewed based on decisions from the Ministry of Science and ICT and internal legal assessments. He also mentioned that the company would form a 'Customer Trust Recovery Committee' to discuss penalty issues.
Currently, SKT claims that waiving subscriber penalties could undermine the company's foundations. When asked by Democratic Party of Korea member Lee Hoon-ki about the average penalty per person, Ryu responded, "I’m not exactly sure, but I expect it to be over 100,000 won per person." The total number of potential leavers is expected to reach 2.5 million, at least 10 times the current number of ported customers, which is around 250,000. A simple calculation indicates that the total penalties amount to approximately 250 billion won.
Ryu stated that if penalties are waived and subscribers leave in droves, it could result in at least 7 trillion won in losses over three years. He also said, "I think as many as 5 million could leave in a month," adding that considering penalties and revenue, losses over three years could exceed 7 trillion won.
Member Lee criticized, "SKT recorded an operating profit of 1.8 trillion won last year and 559 billion won in operating profit during the first quarter of this year. To refuse to waive penalties over a few hundred billion (won) after a major incident?" He mentioned that Ryu had previously responded that penalties would be waived during the last hearing and stated he would report Ryu for perjury.
Earlier, the Ministry of Science and ICT had tasked four law firms with reviewing the interpretation of 'fault' included in the SKT terms of service. Initially, three law firms were consulted for last week's hearing, but the ministry later sought advice from one additional firm.
On the same day, Vice Minister Kang Do-hyun stated that they received the advisory results from the four law firms in the morning. However, he noted that the decision on whether to waive penalties would significantly depend on the findings of the joint government-private investigation team concerning the incident.
Vice Minister Kang remarked, "The legal review concerns whether it corresponds to 'fault,' and whether it reaches exemption will be examined alongside precedents and advisory results.' He also stated that "considerable time is needed for the investigation team’s activities and results," estimating it would take about a month and a half to two months.
In response, Ryu said, "It is also necessary to review our internal law firm assessments and the board of directors' evaluations," keeping his comments on waiving penalties reserved.
Earlier, Chey also explained at a press conference the previous day that "my opinion isn't particularly important regarding the penalty issue" and noted that "issues of equity among subscribers could arise."