Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Man tricks police into releasing personal information of 7 women
This file image shows Heungdeok Police Station in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. Korea Times file
By Jung Min-ho
A police officer accidentally released the personal information of seven women with the same name after being tricked by a man impersonating a detective.
According to Heungdeok Police Station in Cheongju, Thursday, sensitive information such as addresses and resident registration numbers of the women, all in their 30s, were released to a man who claimed to be an investigator “chasing wanted suspects” on April 27.
By the time the police officer realized that something was wrong, the scammer had received the information.
It is still unclear why the impersonator wanted the personal information. Police said they are searching for the man involved in this incident.
In a statement released four days later, the police station issued an apology to the victims and the public, expressing its commitment to making utmost efforts to locate the individual responsible.
“We sincerely apologize for causing concerns,” it said. “We will reform the internal system in regard to personal information management and prevent similar incidents from happening by educating officials doing related work.”
The police stated they informed the affected women of the incident and pledged to protect them. They mentioned difficulty in reaching one of the women because she is currently residing abroad.