Seoul's science ministry monitoring Tokyo's response to LY's information leakage

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's science ministry has said it is closely monitoring the Japanese government's actions to ask Japan's LY Corp., the operator of the popular chat app Line and internet portal Yahoo Japan, to review its relationship with South Korean tech giant Naver.

In November, LY suffered an information leak of its users' personal data following an attack on Naver Cloud Corp., a cloud computing affiliate of Naver.

LY shares some its internal system with Naver Cloud as the Japanese company is controlled by A Holdings, a joint venture created by Naver and Japan's telecommunications giant Softbank Corp.

Tokyo's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued administrative guidance in March and again in April, calling on LY to decrease its dependence on Naver.

The Japanese authorities pointed out Naver's "considerable degree of capital control" over LY as one of the causes of the incidents.

"The ministry has been in communication with Naver and will monitor the situation and provide support if necessary," South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said Monday, adding that the Japanese government's move is unrelated to the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

LY is reportedly set to speed up its plan to separate its system from Naver and Naver Cloud by December 2026 as part of its efforts to improve safety management.

nyway@yna.co.kr
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