It was found that resident registration numbers and home addresses were exposed in a decision on fines that the court sent at once to 62 people. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended that the chief judge of the National Court Administration revise the relevant regulations to prevent this from happening.
According to the commission, Taebaek Mayor Lee Sang-ho sent obituary text messages to many citizens in Dec. 2022 after his mother passed away. The messages included a bank account number in his name.
Prosecutors investigated the case and in Sep. last year indicted Mayor Lee and 62 others on charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The Yeongwol Branch of the Chuncheon District Court recently imposed fines of 5 million won on the mayor and fines of 200,000 to 1 million won on 17 people who transferred amounts exceeding the upper limit under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
The Yeongwol Branch sent the decision by mail to 62 people related to the case on Jul. 29. However, the decision contained the full names of all 62 people, their 13-digit resident registration numbers, and addresses down to the unit number. A, one of the 62, filed a complaint with the commission, saying the court had not anonymized personal information. A did not receive fines.
The First Committee for Relief of Infringement of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea determined that the court's action infringed on the constitutionally guaranteed right to informational self-determination. The commission noted that in 2010 it recommended that the National Court Administration revise its regulations so that personal information would not be exposed in decisions on payment orders and summary orders, and that recommendation was accepted; it said decisions on fines should likewise be anonymized.
The commission recommended to the chief judge of the National Court Administration: "Revise the 'Regulations on the form of judgments' to specify that personal information must be anonymized when sending copies of decisions on fines that include two or more violators."