Lemon Healthcare is falling more than 12% early in the session. A recent controversy over a date of birth input example shown in a university hospital mobile application (app) appears to be weighing on investor sentiment.

On a hospital app screen, the example for the patient date of birth field shows the date of the Sewol ferry disaster (20140416). /Courtesy of Online Community Capture

As of 9:31 a.m. on the 16th, Lemon Healthcare(365660) is trading at 5,960 won on the KOSDAQ market, down 860 won (12.61%) from the previous session. During intraday trading, it fell to as low as 5,920 won, setting the day's low.

The share weakness is seen as stemming from controversy after it became known that some university hospital patient mobile apps developed by Lemon Healthcare displayed the phrase "for Apr. 16, 2014, enter 20140416" as a date of birth input example. Online, some noted that the phrase evokes the Sewol ferry disaster. The example has now been revised to "Jul. 14, 2026."

After the controversy, Hong Byeong-jin, chief executive of Lemon Healthcare, issued an apology on the company's website and said, "We apologize to the Sewol victims and bereaved families, and to all citizens who were hurt."

Hong said, "Our review found that the phrase was first written during earlier app development and was copied and reused without verification through subsequent screen updates," and added, "Whatever the circumstances, it is entirely our company's fault that we failed until now to filter out a date that represents pain for everyone from appearing on a service screen."

He continued, "This incident has caused great offense to customers at about 140 major general hospitals nationwide who use Lemon Healthcare's patient app," and explained, "The app in question is a patient app developed by Lemon Healthcare and provided to general hospitals; writing and managing the on-screen text is entirely our company's responsibility, and the hospitals were not involved."

Lemon Healthcare is a medical data relay platform company that listed on the KOSDAQ market on the 6th of this month. Based on its core technology, LDB (Lemon Digital Bridge), it operates smart hospital services, medical data distribution, and customized health data services.

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