The head of the national human rights committee on Wednesday voiced concern over a set of bills aiming to ease regulations on the use of personal information, citing the possibility of privacy breaches.

Despite opposition from some civic groups, the National Assembly passed three data-related bills last week that are intended to enable the use of personal information offered under aliases for compiling statistics and industrial research.



While the identity of people whose personal information have been extracted will be concealed, the fact that personal information that may reveal the user's health conditions, social ties and financial assets could be compiled without the user's consent, have prompted opposition.

"While the passage of the so-called three data-related bills is anticipated to provide an opportunity for the country's data-based businesses, (I) voice concern that the law was revised without sufficient discussions on protecting information rights," Choi Young-ae, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, said in a statement.

"While the need to nurture new technologies using data, such as big data and artificial intelligence, and reaping economic growth is undeniable, the importance of rights regarding personal information as basic human rights should not be overlooked," Choi said.

The rights committee chief said the organization plans to monitor the bills and suggest ways to better protect personal information. (Yonhap)