[2022 National Audit] 'Call First, Ask Later' Witness Summoned... Lee Hae-jin Waited 9 Hours for 3 Minutes of Answers

Choi Tae-won, Kim Beom-su, Lee Hae-jin and Other Business Leaders Summoned in Bulk
Mostly Practical Matters and Simple Inquiries... Business Witnesses as Figureheads

Lee Hae-jin, Naver's Chief Global Investment Officer, is attending the comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT and related audit target organizations held at the National Assembly on the 24th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Yuri Choi and Nahum Kang] Nine hours and three minutes. That is the amount of time Lee Hae-jin, Naver’s Global Investment Officer (GIO), waited and actually spoke during this year’s National Assembly audit session. Although the National Assembly summoned Lee, whose company Naver experienced service disruptions due to a fire at SK C&C’s Pangyo data center, the questions mostly involved simple fact-checking or unrelated inquiries. Despite announcing plans to summon a large number of corporate heads and CEOs to thoroughly investigate the Kakao outage incident, the summoned corporate witnesses ended up playing only a minor role.

On the 25th, Lee appeared as a witness at the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee (STIBC) comprehensive audit held the previous day. Lee stayed at the audit venue from around 2 p.m. until the session ended at 11:40 p.m., but his speaking time was limited to just three minutes. He responded 15 times in total, averaging about 10 seconds per response.

From the Start, Loud Voices and Political Conflict

The STIBC audit began at 10 a.m. but was immediately suspended due to a power struggle between the ruling and opposition parties. This was because of the need to discuss the prosecution’s attempt to search the Democratic Party’s central office. Democratic Party lawmakers protested the search by holding signs saying “Condemn Oppression of the Opposition!” and “Stop Retaliatory Investigations!” while People Power Party lawmakers countered with signs stating “National Audits Are Not Tools for Political Conflict.” The audit, which attracted national attention due to the Kakao outage, was fraught with political conflict from the outset.

Although questioning of general witnesses began at 2:30 p.m., Lee mostly remained silent and stayed in his seat. Before the main questioning, STIBC Chairman Jung Cheong-rae requested the key witnesses to issue a public apology and state their positions on damage recovery and prevention measures. Lee’s response, which lasted just over a minute, accounted for most of his total speaking time. He said, “I sincerely apologize for the partial service disruptions caused by the recent data center incident at Naver. We will conduct thorough inspections and do our best to minimize such inconveniences in the future.”

Most questions about the data disaster recovery system were simple. Lawmakers asked whether there are disaster management guidelines related to data, whether the Chuncheon data center conducts disaster recovery tests, and whether Naver has more robust data redundancy than Kakao. This raised concerns about whether it was appropriate to summon Lee, given that these questions could be answered by operational staff.

The same applied to questions about platform monopoly controversies. The inquiries only reaffirmed Naver’s basic stance on why it does not monopolize all services compared to Kakao and on concerns about encroachment on small businesses. Lee responded, “We will act responsibly in the market” and “We will prioritize users and invest accordingly.”

There were also questions unrelated to the issue at hand. People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong raised suspicions about Lee’s indirect support for Seongnam FC through sponsorship funds. Chairman Jung stopped this line of questioning, saying, “We agreed to focus only on the Kakao outage during this audit, so why are you bringing up unrelated topics?”

CEO Choi Soo-yeon Responded Only Three Times... Witness Selection Based on ‘Call First, See Later’ Approach

At the audit, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, appearing for the first time, responded only three times in total. When independent lawmaker Park Wan-joo asked whether she received prior phone notification about the fire from SK C&C, Choi replied, “We did not receive prior notice.” She gave the same answer regarding whether there was prior notification about the power shutdown.

Kim Beom-su, Head of Kakao Future Initiative Center, Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, Lee Hae-jin, Naver GIO, Hong Eun-taek, CEO of Kakao, and Park Sung-ha, CEO of SK C&C, among other witnesses, appeared on the 24th at the National Assembly for the comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT and related audit target organizations, taking the witness oath. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

In the end, although corporate heads and CEOs from Naver, SK, and Kakao were summoned one after another, it is difficult to avoid criticism that the witness selection was based on a ‘call first, see later’ approach. Despite the National Assembly’s intention to thoroughly clarify the causes and responsibilities of the Kakao outage, some voices say it ended up as mere ‘corporate disciplining.’

Meanwhile, SK Chairman Chey Tae-won, Kakao Future Initiative Center Head Kim Beom-su, and Lee apologized for the service disruptions caused by the data center fire. Amid continued criticism from lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties regarding the cause of the accident, the handling process, and future measures, these corporate heads promised continuous infrastructure investment, active compensation for damages, and prevention of recurrence.

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