KT to waive penalty fees for customers hit by hacking incident

South Korean telecom operator KT Corp. said Tuesday it will waive penalty fees for customers affected by recent hacking incidents that led to unauthorized micropayments and data breaches.

KT CEO Kim Young-shub told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee that the company will notify affected users of the waivers.

KT has said it will decide on the scope of penalty fee exemptions after reviewing the findings of a joint government-private investigation team.

The waivers will apply only to customers affected by unauthorized micropayments or illegal base station connections, KT said, adding that any broader exemptions will depend on the results of the ongoing probe.

On Tuesday, KT began notifying subscribers of a recent hacking incident and cases of unauthorized small-payment charges, following criticism from lawmakers over its delayed disclosure.

KT said it would complete the notifications by Wednesday.

In messages sent to customers, the company said a potential personal data leak may have affected 22,227 users, while 368 customers were confirmed to have incurred unauthorized small-payment charges.

Rep. Park Chung-kwon of the main opposition People Power Party criticized KT's delayed response, saying many affected customers had to pay penalty fees of hundreds of thousands of won to terminate their subscriptions. Park urged the company to take greater responsibility.

Kim said he would take full responsibility, including considering resignation, once the situation is under control.

As of Friday, KT had detected 20 illegal micro base station identification codes suspected of being used for unauthorized mobile payments, with 368 users suffering combined losses of about 240 million won ($169,000).

Micropayments refer to small-value digital purchases made via automated response systems or text messages, while direct carrier billing refers to transactions processed directly by mobile operators.