South Korea

[2025결산/통신] 통신보안 균열에 서비스 신뢰 ‘흔들’…AIDC로 ‘새희망’

Digital Daily | Local Language | News | Dec. 10, 2025 | Cyber Attacks and Data Loss

The 2025 telecommunications industry in Korea faced significant challenges stemming from major security breaches. SK Telecom experienced a large-scale SIM chip data leak affecting around 2,300 subscribers, resulting in a record fine of approximately 135 billion won from the Personal Information Protection Commission. In response, SK Telecom apologized, waived early termination fees, and offered a compensation package totaling about 500 billion won while committing 700 billion won over five years to cybersecurity investments. This incident led to a sharp decline in SK Telecom's revenues and operating profits in the second and third quarters of the year.

KT was also implicated in a hacking case involving illegal femtocells used by attackers to access subscriber data, impacting over 22,000 users and causing monetary damages. Unlike SK Telecom, KT only waived early termination fees for affected users and faced criticism for possible incident concealment. LG Uplus encountered an operational error causing leakage of call information for several dozen users, unrelated to hacking. Both KT and LG Uplus showed stable or improved financial results overall, despite these issues and scrutiny over possible concealment of hacking incidents during parliamentary audits.

Amid these security challenges, the AI data center (AIDC) business emerged as a promising growth area for all three major carriers. SK Telecom’s AIDC business grew significantly, with third-quarter revenues up 53.8%, driven by GPU-as-a-Service offerings and new data center developments like “SK AIDC Ulsan.” KT expanded its AIDC footprint with new centers, realizing a 20.3% revenue increase in its cloud affiliate. LG Uplus also advanced its AIDC plans, including a large-scale facility in Paju, with a 14.5% rise in related revenues for the third quarter.

The government moved forward with a major frequency reallocation plan requiring carriers to convert to 5G Standalone (SA) mode to benefit from up to a 15% discount on multi-trillion-won reallocation fees. The reallocation includes a three-year usage period for certain bands to facilitate a transition towards 6G by 2030. A notable conflict arose between SK Telecom and LG Uplus over valuation and fees for the 2.6 GHz band, with SK Telecom demanding fee reductions aligned with LG’s lower past auction prices, but the government maintaining a hardline stance and offering only standard discounts. This frequency reallocation is poised to shape the profitability and investment strategies of Korean telecom operators in the coming years.

[단독]李대통령, 내달 13~14일 訪日…다카이치 고향서 정상회담

Maekyung | Local Language | News | Dec. 10, 2025 | UndeterminedPolitics and Elections

President Lee Jae-myung is scheduled to visit Japan for a one-night, two-day summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on December 13-14, 2025. The summit is set to take place in Nara City, Takaichi’s hometown, a historically significant location with deep Baekje cultural ties, symbolizing the long-standing historical connection between Korea and Japan. The foreign ministries of both countries are coordinating the specifics of the meeting, including the venue, with options like Tōdai-ji temple being considered despite Nara's limited convention facilities.

This visit marks the fifth meeting between Korean and Japanese leaders within eight months, reflecting an active phase of shuttle diplomacy between the two countries since the start of President Lee’s administration. Previous engagements include President Lee’s visit to Tokyo in August, former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s return visit to Busan in September, the initial summit between Lee and Takaichi in Gyeongju in October, and a meeting during the G20 summit in South Africa on November 23, 2025.

In addition to the Japan visit, President Lee is also planning a separate visit to China next month to hold a summit with President Xi Jinping. This follows Xi’s recent state visit to Korea aimed at restoring and formalizing Korea-China relations. The visits to Japan and China are expected to occur independently according to scheduling arrangements, reflecting President Lee’s strategy to maintain diplomatic balance amid rising tensions in the region, particularly concerning China-Japan relations over Taiwan.

AI 속도는 빨라지는데…공공 SaaS는 여전히 제약투성이

Digital Daily | Local Language | News | Dec. 10, 2025 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

The government has introduced support measures to encourage private SaaS adoption in the public sector, including financial assistance for initial usage fees through the "Public Sector Private SaaS Utilization Support Project." However, adoption remains limited due to fundamental challenges such as rigid security systems, strict monitoring requirements, and a security grading system that restricts SaaS use mainly to low-risk tasks. These issues create a gap between policy intent and real-world implementation.

Security is highlighted as the main obstacle, with companies facing repeated institution-specific reviews and costly monitoring obligations under National Intelligence Service regulations. The security grading system confines most public sector work to a "medium" level, which necessitates extensive monitoring and prevents SaaS adoption. Additionally, procurement methods based on traditional system integration practices do not align with SaaS's ready-to-use service nature, creating inefficiencies for providers and institutions.

These constraints extend beyond the public sector, affecting domestic SaaS market growth due to legal, regulatory, and security barriers that limit usage across various industries. Approximately 70% of the domestic monitoring sector market is inaccessible to SaaS solutions because of these restrictions.

The rapid pace of AI adoption accentuates these challenges, as AI integration requires scalable and flexible environments that SaaS naturally supports. There are concerns that if public institutions cannot utilize SaaS effectively, they risk falling behind in AI competitiveness. Industry experts indicate that existing on-premises and cloud infrastructures are insufficient for maximizing AI productivity, suggesting a necessary shift towards more open public environments as AI becomes more prevalent.