LG Uplus customers could demand penalty-free contract terminations if the telecom carrier's alleged concealment of a data breach is confirmed as deliberate evidence destruction or obstruction of investigation, according to a legal interpretation.
Rep. Kim Jang-gyeom of the ruling People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, disclosed on the 25th that he received this assessment after requesting the National Assembly Research Service to review whether LG Uplus's cover-up constitutes company fault.
According to the response, the Research Service determined that "if actions that made it impossible to verify traces of the breach go beyond standard security measures and constitute malicious evidence destruction or investigation obstruction, this deprives users of the opportunity to determine whether their personal information was leaked, assess its severity, and take appropriate countermeasures."
The Service further explained that such conduct "could be interpreted as company fault warranting penalty waivers, as it undermines the contractual trust relationship based on providing safe telecommunications services."
However, the response also noted that in previous cases involving SK Telecom and KT, a key criterion for determining company fault was whether the leaked information or managed assets were essential to providing safe telecommunications services. If LG Uplus's leaked information is limited to internal management data, it may be difficult to view this as a fundamental breach of telecommunications service safety.
The core issue is that LG Uplus effectively made detailed government investigation into the content and scale of leaked information impossible by upgrading, reinstalling, or disposing of operating systems on servers and laptops implicated in the breach investigation. The Ministry of Science and ICT has referred the case to investigative authorities, viewing LG Uplus's actions as potential "obstruction of official duties through deception."
"If police investigations reveal LG Uplus's malicious evidence destruction and obstruction, this clearly constitutes company fault warranting penalty waivers, as it fundamentally undermines the trust relationship with users," Rep. Kim stated. He added, "Since the Ministry has already determined there was intent behind LG Uplus's actions and referred the matter to police, authorities should actively review penalty waiver eligibility based on company fault even before investigation results are finalized."