The number of citizens expressing discomfort about illegal spam text messages (hereinafter referred to as illegal spam) is increasing, but the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Communications Commission, which are supposed to supervise telecommunications companies, have been criticized by the Board of Audit and Inspection for neglecting their duties.
In particular, among the supervisory powers of the ministry, there were cards that could limit illegal spam, such as refusing to provide services like 'transmission speed restrictions' to mobile carriers concerning message relay services. However, these were not utilized as countermeasures.
On the 29th, the Board of Audit and Inspection released a regular audit report from the Ministry of Science and ICT containing these details. According to the Board, the average number of illegal spam messages received per citizen increased by 63% compared to 2021. However, the filtering performance of telecommunications companies recorded a 25% decline. Reports of illegal spam soared from 17.1 million cases in 2019 to 361.5 million cases last year, more than a 20-fold increase in five years.
In response, the Board of Audit and Inspection examined the operational status of the Ministry of Science and ICT, revealing that proper management and supervision of message relay companies linked to illegal spam dispatch were not being conducted. According to the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act, companies must manage the mobile phone numbers used to send text messages and employ at least one staff member responsible for blocking attempts to send messages using fake phone numbers.
However, the Central Radio Management Office, a public institution entrusted with the management of message relay companies from the Ministry of Science and ICT, granted registration without confirming these facts. As of October last year, out of 1,177 operating companies, 532 (45.2%) did not meet legal requirements. Companies that failed to meet legal requirements primarily sent illegal spam. Among the top 10 companies reported for illegal spam in the first half of last year, 9 did not meet legal requirements.
The Board pointed out that the Ministry of Science and ICT did not provide specific guidelines on how to supervise message relay companies when it transferred related functions to the Central Radio Management Office in 2014. Employees of the Radio Management Office did not receive training related to the management of bulk message sending companies.
The duty to autonomously control illegal spam by telecommunications companies was also inadequate. According to the current Telecommunications Network Act, if a subscriber attempts to send illegal spam, the telecom company must refuse to provide the text message transmission service. The three major mobile carriers have terms stating that if a report of illegal spam is received regarding messages sent by a relay company, they can lower the transmission speed of the messages or suspend sending.
However, although the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Communications Commission have announced relevant measures several times to eliminate illegal spam, it has become apparent that they did not guide telecom companies to strengthen their management of illegal spam sending companies. Since there was no request from the ministry, the telecom companies did not respond actively. In fact, the three major mobile carriers did not implement any transmission restrictions on illegal spam sending companies from the second half of 2021 to the first half of last year.
The Board noted, "The three major mobile carriers generate average annual revenue of more than 740 billion won through (text message, etc.) transmission service transactions, and since their revenue increases as the volume of transactions rises regardless of whether they are illegal spam, (if the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Communications Commission do not supervise) there is insufficient incentive to actively implement transmission restrictions."
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Communications Commission introduced a system in March 2023 that includes identification codes to track sending relay companies for mass text messages. This system was created to quickly identify and stop spam, even if multiple companies are involved in a multi-level manner in illegal spam sending. It can stop illegal spam sending within two days at most. However, it has been confirmed that the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), which oversees the enforcement of this system, does not have the necessary systems in place, and thus, restrictions using identification codes were not implemented.
Additionally, it has been revealed that the Radio Management Office excessively reduced fines for companies that falsely displayed phone numbers.
The Board notified the Minister of Science and ICT and the Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission to "establish measures to enforce appropriate user protection actions, such as transmission restrictions and providing filtering services, if necessary, to block illegal spam." Furthermore, it admonished the Director of the Central Radio Management Office to "thoroughly conduct fines assessment work, such as increasing or mitigating fines, so that fines incurred due to false phone number displays can be legitimately imposed."