Did Presidential Delegation's Personal Data Leak While Being Sent to Belgium?

[Anchor]

Authorities have launched a full-scale investigation into the leak of personal information belonging to the presidential delegation, including President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung. SBS has learned that officials suspect the file containing the personal information was leaked in the process of being transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Belgian side and are tracing the breach.

Kang Min-u reports exclusively.

[Reporter]

This personal information leak occurred after a file regarding the presidential delegation was uploaded to a paid website used to inspect for malware.

The file contained dates of birth and passport numbers of 168 passengers aboard Air Force One, including President Lee Jae-myung, First Lady Kim Hye-kyung, and senior government officials.

The document was prepared for entry immigration procedures for those traveling from Seoul to Brussels, Belgium, aboard Air Force One during a European tour for the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in June.

According to SBS reporting, the South Korean government believes that on June 1, the file, prepared by the Office of the Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was transferred to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union via an internal network and then sent to the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the internet.

The file was uploaded to the site a day later, on June 2.

Believing that an issue occurred along this distribution route, the government is focusing on identifying the point of the leak.

[Park Doo-soon / Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: As soon as we confirmed the leak, we requested investigations and inquiries from relevant agencies, and we are currently conducting an investigation to determine the circumstances of the leak in cooperation with relevant authorities, including the National Police Agency.]

Cheong Wa Dae held an emergency meeting on the morning of November 3 presided over by Chief of Staff to the President Lim Gwang-hyun to discuss a comprehensive review of the security management system for presidential overseas tours and directions for countermeasures.

Procedures have begun to reissue passports for public officials and journalists whose information was leaked, including the presidential couple, and police have converted this case from an internal inquiry to a formal investigation.

While no additional signs of leaks have been identified so far, it appears difficult for authorities to avoid criticism for remaining unaware of the leak for more than five months until media inquiries began.

(Reported by Jung Sang-bo and Yoon Hyeong | Video by Jang Hyun-ki | Graphics by Park Cheon-woong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.