South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Monday accused the Yoon Suk-yeol administration of failing to prevent or detect the years-long cyberattack on SK Telecom, arguing that weak oversight allowed malicious actors to compromise critical telecom infrastructure undetected. DP spokesperson Hwang Jung-a said the incident, which reportedly exposed sensitive user data and device identifiers, demonstrated a systemic breakdown in information security governance.

The briefing marked the DP’s most direct criticism of the government over the breach to date. Hwang said SK Telecom’s initial claim that no device-specific IMEI data had been leaked has since been contradicted by new findings, further undermining public trust. She called on the government and SK Telecom to deliver timely compensation to affected users and sales networks, warning that public confidence would not recover without structural safeguards to prevent future incidents.