[Invest&Law] Beyond Mediation to the Court... SKT Personal Data Breach Sparks Damages Price War

300,000 Won Per Person Compensation Proposal Fails
Non-Litigant Subscribers Also Expected to Be Affected

SK Telecom has ultimately decided not to accept the dispute mediation committee's proposal of "300,000 won per person in compensation," as presented by the Personal Information Protection Commission. As a result, the largest personal data breach in history is now headed to court.

According to government sources and industry officials on November 26, SK Telecom had previously stated that it was "regrettable that efforts for incident resolution and voluntary, proactive compensation were not sufficiently reflected," and announced it would carefully review the proposal. However, the company ultimately submitted a letter to the Personal Information Protection Commission declining the mediation. The mediation process only becomes effective if both parties accept the proposal. Due to SK Telecom's refusal, the mediation was declared unsuccessful. The committee has individually notified approximately 4,000 applicants that the mediation did not succeed, and these individuals will now have to seek compensation through civil lawsuits.

The main reason is the financial burden. If the proposal of 300,000 won per person were accepted, not only the current applicants but also future applicants, class action participants, and non-litigant subscribers could demand the same compensation standard. If all approximately 23 million victims were compensated, SK Telecom's total liability could rise to about 7 trillion won.

The key issue now is the level of damages to be determined in civil court. Jeon Sangbeom, an attorney at Law Firm Logos and a former presiding judge, stated, "According to past precedents, damages for personal information leaks have generally been set between 100,000 and 300,000 won per person," adding, "However, since the mediation committee proposed 300,000 won, the court's decision on where within this range the amount will fall is expected to be the main point of contention."

A similar case occurred in 2014, involving the personal information leaks at KB Kookmin Card, NH Nonghyup Card, and Lotte Card. At that time, about 50,000 victims filed a group dispute mediation application with the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee. However, the credit card companies did not accept the mediation, leading to civil litigation. In 2018, the Supreme Court finalized compensation at 100,000 won per person. The current SK Telecom case is likely to follow a similar trajectory, with group lawsuits and the determination of damages following the failed mediation.

The duration of the trial will depend on SK Telecom's strategy. If the company takes the stance of "only disputing the amount," the first trial could conclude within a year, and the entire process up to higher courts could be resolved within about two years. However, if the dispute extends to issues such as who actually suffered harm from the leaked personal information, the litigation could become prolonged. Legal experts believe SK Telecom is more likely to choose the former option to resolve the dispute quickly.

Separately, more than 9,000 people have already filed a damages lawsuit against SK Telecom, demanding 500,000 won per person in compensation. If the first damages ruling is finalized in this case, SK Telecom may expand voluntary compensation to victims who have not filed lawsuits. Attorney Jeon noted, "Since lawyers can profit simply by organizing plaintiffs and claiming only litigation costs, once a ruling is made, it is only a matter of time before second and third rounds of lawsuits surge," adding, "In this case, SK Telecom may face higher costs responding to individual lawsuits, making it more likely that the company will compensate even those subscribers who did not participate in the litigation."

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