Kim Young-shub, president of KT, bowed his head in public over a large-scale information security breach.
Kim said at a press briefing at KT's Gwanghwamun headquarters in Seoul on the 30th, "I deeply apologize for causing great anxiety and inconvenience to customers due to the breach," and "This incident made us acutely feel again the weight of customer trust."
Regarding the final findings of the public-private joint investigation team announced the previous day, Kim said, "KT takes the results very seriously," and "Beyond issues in the information security system, we recognize the anxiety customers must have felt and the damage to trust as the company's most important task."
He continued, "To resolve this crisis and prevent a recurrence, we have been working on practical measures and customer compensation plans," and stressed, "We will make the protection of customer information the company's top priority and pursue fundamental change." However, rather than detailing the course of the incident or assigning responsibility, his remarks focused on future responses and system improvements.
Kim said, "All executives and employees are reminding themselves that protecting customers' safety, trust and satisfaction is the reason KT exists," and added, "We will make sure we are judged not by words but by visible change."
At the briefing, following Kim's apology, the company outlined customer compensation plans, including waiving penalties for cancellations, and companywide information security innovation measures. KT will waive penalties for customers who cancel mobile services within a set period and implement a compensation program for all customers that includes additional data and content usage benefits. At the same time, it will launch a companywide information security innovation task force (TF), conduct a full review of its network, servers and personal information management systems, and expand medium- to long-term security investments.
At the end of the briefing, Kim said, "Once again, I apologize to customers who experienced concern and inconvenience due to this incident," and added, "Please watch how KT changes."