Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon speaks during a briefing to President Lee Jae Myung in the central city of Sejong on Dec. 12, 2025. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said Friday the government will seek to introduce punitive fines on businesses with repeated data breaches amid growing concern over personal information security.
Bae made the remark during the Ministry of Science and ICT’s policy briefing to President Lee Jae Myung in the central city of Sejong.
“We aim to establish a stern responsibility-based system by imposing punitive fines on businesses that suffer repeated security breaches,” Bae said.
“The government will bolster its data security capability and stand with the people to launch an all-out war against hacking attacks,” he added.
The plan came in the wake of data breaches reported by businesses this year, including cases at SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and e-commerce giant Coupang Inc., affecting most South Koreans.
On the global race for leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, the science minister said the country will work to develop one of the world’s top 10 AI models next year.
The model will be released as open source for use in areas such as defense, manufacturing and culture, he added.
(Yonhap)
