Ruling and Opposition Parties Push to Summon Kakao's Kim Beom-su as National Assembly Audit Witness: "Will Ask About Group-Level Compensation Plans"

Kim Beom-su, Chairman of Kakao, appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's audit on the Korea Communications Commission held by the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee on the 21st, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The ruling and opposition parties have decided to summon Kim Beom-su, the founder of Kakao, as a witness at the National Assembly audit regarding the Kakao 'blackout' incident caused by the SK C&C data center fire.

According to political circles on the 16th, the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee (STIBC) is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting on the 17th to approve a proposal to summon additional witnesses, including founder Kim and Park Seong-ha, CEO of SK C&C, as executives of the companies involved in the incident.

Park Seong-jung, the ruling party secretary of the STIBC and a member of the People Power Party, said, "The co-CEOs of Kakao (Namgoong Hoon and Hong Eun-taek) will definitely be summoned as witnesses at the comprehensive audit on the 24th," adding, "Whether to summon founder Kim will be negotiated today as the issue has arisen."

Cho Seung-rae, the opposition party secretary of the STIBC and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, also stated, "We need to hear from the Kakao group about why the recovery was not swift, the background of the accident including backup network construction, and their future plans and stance," adding, "We will also ask how they plan to compensate for the damages caused by this blackout incident."

He added, "The CEO of SK C&C should also be summoned. Kakao bears significant responsibility for failing to properly establish backups, and SK C&C, as a company providing services to enterprises, is responsible for poor management."

However, opinions differ between the ruling and opposition parties regarding whether to summon witnesses related to Naver. The People Power Party insists that the Naver CEO should also be summoned as a witness, but the Democratic Party is reported to be somewhat reluctant.

Meanwhile, a fire broke out at the SK C&C Pangyo data center, where Kakao is housed, around 3:30 p.m. the previous day, causing disruptions across Kakao services. KakaoTalk's mobile functions were inoperable, and the PC version was also unavailable. Affiliate services requiring KakaoTalk account login, such as KakaoT and KakaoPay, were also difficult to use.

As recovery efforts proceed sequentially, as of 11:45 a.m. on the day, KakaoTalk PC version login is possible. However, sending image or video files via KakaoTalk remains restricted.

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