Presidential Passport Numbers Leaked: Information on Air Force One Passengers Exposed

[Anchor]

It has belatedly come to light that a file containing the dates of birth and passport numbers of President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung was uploaded in its entirety to a website. The file appears to contain the personal information of passengers aboard Air Force One, South Korea's presidential jet. Cheong Wa Dae has requested a police investigation.

Kang Min-u reports.

[Reporter]

This is a paid website that scans files for malicious code.

Last June, a file containing the dates of birth and passport numbers of President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung was reportedly uploaded to this site.

The file is known to include the personal information of 168 people in total, including high-ranking government and Cheong Wa Dae officials—such as Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and National Security Office Director Wi Sung-lac—as well as staff members of the presidential secretariat and reporters accredited to Cheong Wa Dae.

It is presumed to be the passenger manifest of those who boarded the presidential aircraft, Air Force One, when President Lee embarked on a nine-night, 10-day trip to three European nations to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit last June.

The file reportedly contained not only the passengers' passport numbers, but also their passport issuance and expiration dates.

Cheong Wa Dae issued an official statement saying that it had already been aware of the matter in advance and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies would take additional measures.

An official from Cheong Wa Dae stated that the file uploaded to the site appeared to follow a template used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that they have asked the police to launch an investigation.

Cheong Wa Dae has also reportedly begun the process of replacing passports for the staff members who were on board at the time.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it takes this matter very seriously and is conducting a multifaceted investigation into the circumstances of the leak.

The ministry added that it plans to take necessary actions based on the results of the investigation.

(Video by Joo Yong-jin, Video Editing by Jeon Min-gyu)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.