South Korean president to get new passport after data leak - NHKニュース

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is being issued a new passport after it was found that personal information on him as well as senior government officials and other individuals was visible on a subscription-based website for five months.

Public broadcaster KBS reported that the leaked data was of 168 passengers on South Korea's presidential aircraft for Lee's visit to Europe in June.

The broadcaster said the leaked information included the passport details and birth dates of the president, first lady, national security advisor, foreign minister, as well as secret service agents and journalists.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed the data leak on Tuesday.

The ministry said the incident was apparently not due to hacking and that a thorough investigation was needed.

Some media outlets reported that a file containing the personal data was uploaded to the cybersecurity platform to scan for malicious code, and this may have led to the data breach.

The Foreign Ministry said procedures were underway to issue new passports for the president and everyone else whose personal information had been exposed.

The ministry and police are investigating how the data breach occurred.