South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung received new passports on Tuesday, November 3, after details from their passports and those of 166 other people were exposed online, according to public broadcaster KBS. The leak was reported the previous day, prompting the presidential office to describe it as a serious matter.
The information was uploaded on June 2 to the website of an antivirus software publisher in a file titled “Passenger List (Republic of Korea-Belgium).” It concerned people who travelled aboard the presidential aircraft during Lee’s June tour of Belgium, Italy and France, where he attended the G7 summit in Evian.
The exposed file included names in Korean and English, affiliations, job titles, dates of birth, passport numbers and expiry dates. Those affected included presidential office staff, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and journalists covering the president.
Sources: Le Monde.