‘BBQ Jeonsan Network Illegal Access’ Charge: Park Hyunjong, bhc Chairman, Suspended Sentence

Park Hyun-jong, chairman of BHC Group, who is accused of illegal access to the internal computer network of competitor BBQ, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing held at the Seoul Eastern District Court in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 8th. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Park Hyunjong, chairman of bhc Group, who was indicted for illegally accessing the internal network of Genesis BBQ, a competitor in the chicken industry, and viewing data, has been sentenced to probation.

On the 8th, Judge Jung Won of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 11 sentenced Chairman Park, who was charged with violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and the Personal Information Protection Act, to six months in prison with a two-year probation period.

Chairman Park was indicted without detention in November 2020 for allegedly accessing the internal network of BBQ twice on July 3, 2015, at the bhc headquarters office in Songpa-gu, Seoul, by stealing the IDs and passwords of employees A and B, who belonged to the BBQ finance team at the time.

The court stated, "Given the nature of the crime, it is natural that there is no direct evidence, but considering the indirect evidence submitted by the prosecution, it is sufficiently recognized that the IDs and passwords of others were used without authorization to access the network," and added, "The crime was committed directly to gain an advantage in a corporate dispute, so the nature of the offense is not light."

However, the court acquitted him of the charge of violating the Personal Information Protection Act due to insufficient evidence of the crime.

After the trial, BBQ stated, "Considering that Chairman Park hacked the internal network of BBQ, a competitor he was previously affiliated with, and viewed key materials related to a 20 billion KRW lawsuit in progress at the time, the sentencing result is somewhat lenient."

bhc stated regarding this ruling, "There are many parts that are difficult to accept, and we plan to appeal."

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