Cyberattack reveals private information of Korean leaders

Personal information including cellphone numbers of President Lee Jae-myung and former President Yoon Suk Yeol has been found posted on a website where hackers worldwide share stolen data. The leak also exposed Lee’s actual email address along with a 12-character combination of letters and numbers believed to be his password. Concerns are mounting that hacking is now threatening national security, given that the personal data of both the current and former heads of state, classified as core national secrets, has been compromised.

A Dong-A Ilbo investigation on Sept. 21 revealed that posts containing the personal details of Yoon and his wife appeared on July 13, followed by similar posts on July 20 about Lee and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung. The data included cellphone numbers and home addresses. Verification showed that Lee’s former phone number and email address, as well as Kim’s email address, matched the leaked information. Yoon and his wife’s phone numbers and residence also proved to be accurate. The posts further disclosed details such as the phone models, carriers, and even the parents’ names of both Lee and Yoon.

The hacker, who uses the alias “Leasian,” left the message “Fake President” in English on the post containing Yoon’s personal information. On the post about Lee and his wife, the hacker wrote in English, “You got doxxed.”

In addition, the hacker shared domain data and staff information from two South Korean online news outlets, as well as the personal email address and a string of numbers believed to be the password of YouTuber Oh Young-taek, a former soldier known as “Uwakkun,” who has 1.6 million subscribers.

The same website previously hosted personal information leaked in the June 2023 cyberattack on Daejeon Sun Hospital, which compromised data from about 40 judges, prosecutors and police officers, as well as 60 employees of Samsung and Hyundai Group. At the time, police announced they had launched an internal inquiry. More than a year later, however, the data remained online and publicly accessible. Asked about the status of the investigation, a police official said, “We will check the progress of the case.”


주현우 기자 woojoo@donga.com