"Author Listed as 'MOFA'": Where Did File Containing President's Passport Number Leak?

Investigative and diplomatic authorities are working to determine specific details, including the author of the passenger list file for Air Force One, which includes President Lee Jae-myung and the First Lady.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated today (Nov. 4) that it is verifying the facts regarding the author's name in the leaked file in cooperation with related agencies such as the National Police Agency, making it difficult to provide specific answers.

It has been reported that the file, which contains personal information such as the passport numbers of President Lee and 168 members of the delegation, lists the author as MOFA, the English abbreviation for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A Foreign Affairs Ministry official explained yesterday that the file, which is in an Excel sheet format, matches the format of a document compiled by the ministry—as the agency overseeing presidential overseas tours—by gathering information on Air Force One passengers.

However, because this document is not an official public document stamped with an official seal, but rather functions like an attachment to an official document, it cannot be immediately verified who wrote it. If the author is indeed MOFA, the possibility that it is an internal document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs increases significantly.

The document was uploaded to VirusTotal, a foreign malicious code inspection website, in early June, just before President Lee's tour of European countries including Belgium.

Given these circumstances, the possibility has been raised that the document may have been leaked during the process of being transmitted and shared with related agencies or the government of the counterpart country via the diplomatic mission in Belgium.

Some reports have also claimed that the file author's name is "bruno," a Belgian-style name, which is cited as a basis for this possibility.

The police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are verifying the facts regarding these aspects as well.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.