'Caregiver Platform Technology Theft Allegation' Jung Woo-jin, NHN CEO, "I Will Cooperate Fully with the Investigation" (Comprehensive)

On the 7th, at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, during the National Audit of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held by the Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Venture Business Committee, the following attended: Tae-moon Noh, President of Samsung Electronics (from left), Jang-wook Kim, CEO of Emart24, Beom-su Kim, Chairman of Kakao, Ki-hong Kim, Head of the Korea Internet PC Cafe Cooperative, Beom-jun Kim, CEO of Woowa Brothers, Ji-hyun Cho, CEO of Gonggan Daeyeo, Geung-seon Ryu, CEO of Kakao Mobility, Woo-jin Jung, CEO of NHN, Joong Naver, Vice President of Naver, and Il-gyu Choi, Vice President of SK Telecom. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] NHN has been accused of stealing technology from a startup.

Kim Kyung-man, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, made this claim during the national audit on the 7th.

NHN launched an open beta service for the caregiver matching platform 'WeCare' last month through its in-house venture, which is said to be similar to the startup's 'CareNation' service.

Rep. Kim stated, "There are many similarities with the platform of the affected company that was released a year earlier. Upon checking membership registration and service usage records, many NHN in-house venture executives and employees were registered as caregivers and guardian members." He added, "It was revealed that an NHN in-house venture employee who directly spoke with the affected company even lied about his identity, claiming to be a graduate student."

On the same day during the audit, Kwon Chil-seung, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, "If this is true, it needs to be looked into," and added, "We will verify any illegal activities."

Regarding this, NHN stated, "There was some lack of caution during the market research process while preparing the new service. However, the implemented UX reflects the essential aspects of a manpower brokerage app, and it is an excessive interpretation to equate similarity with technology theft."

They further added, "We will re-examine whether there were any shortcomings during the service preparation process and take corrective measures."

NHN CEO Jung Woo-jin appeared as a witness at the audit and expressed his willingness to cooperate sincerely with administrative investigations. He said, "I deeply feel responsible," and added, "I will take responsibility and renew the organization to the fullest extent possible."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.