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2 clusters · 24 sources · 1 days · First seen · Last updated

South Korean presidential delegation data leak

Overview

Sensitive personal information belonging to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, the First Lady, and 166 members of a presidential delegation was exposed online. The data, which included names, affiliations, dates of birth, and passport details, originated from a file titled “Passenger List (Republic of Korea-Belgium)” that was uploaded to a paid security website in June 2026.

In response to the exposure, the Blue House held an emergency meeting to investigate the scope of the breach. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs began technical inspections of computers and email accounts used during the European trip, while authorities started reissuing passports for all affected individuals to mitigate security risks. Police launched a preliminary investigation, initially viewing the incident as a data exposure rather than a hacking event. Subsequent reports indicated that authorities are investigating whether the leak resulted from an external source or malware infection.

Newer findings suggest the leak may have occurred when the file was uploaded to VirusTotal, a paid malware analysis platform, likely during a security check prior to the President’s official trip to Europe. Authorities now believe the incident may have resulted from an internal error, specifically that an employee may have uploaded the file for a malware check without realizing the platform shares data with external security partners and paid subscribers. The investigation, led by Chief of Staff Lim Kwang-hyun, aims to assign responsibility for the exposure, which affected 168 individuals including cabinet members, security details, and journalists.

Entities

Lim Kwang-hyun · VirusTotal · Belgium · Cheong Wa Dae · Lee

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Timeline

  1. [POLITICS] 3 sources
    South Korean President Lee orders review of youth SNS restrictions

    President Lee has ordered a review of social media restrictions for minors and addressed a major data breach involving the personal information of the presidential delegation.

  2. [INTERNATIONAL] 23 sources
    South Korea President Lee Jae Myung affected by major data leak

    Personal data of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and 167 others, including passport numbers, was exposed for five months on a cybersecurity platform due to a suspected internal error.

Sources

anninhthudo.vn · biz.heraldcorp.com · cnbcindonesia.com · english.hani.co.kr · fehmarn24.de · global.liputan6.com · gyominilbo.com · imaeil.com · jawapos.com · jurnas.com · koreaherald.com · kyeonggi.com · liberatorio.altervista.org · m.koreatimes.co.kr · m.sportalkorea.com · marler-zeitung.de · onetz.de · op-online.de · recklinghaeuser-zeitung.de · seoul.co.kr · sisajournal.com · socialnews.xyz · stimberg-zeitung.de · thanhnien.vn

This summary has been updated 2 times: see revision history