Key facts
- Samsung Electronics' largest labor union leader and a senior official are under investigation.
- They are suspected of stealing personal information of about 100,000 employees.
- The alleged purpose was to create a 'union blacklist.'
- Charges include violating the personal information protection law.
- Samsung Electronics filed a police complaint in April alleging extraction and sharing of employee information.
- Four other Samsung employees face charges for improperly accessing internal systems.
The leader of Samsung Electronics Co.'s largest labor union, Choi Seung-ho, and another senior union official are under investigation for allegedly stealing the personal information of approximately 100,000 employees to compile a 'union blacklist.' The Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station has referred both individuals to the prosecution without detention, citing charges related to violations of the personal information protection law.
Authorities believe the blacklist was compiled around March, coinciding with the union's preparations for a general strike concerning performance-based bonuses. The senior union official, who previously managed the company's internal systems, is suspected of unlawfully obtaining a file containing the names of over 100,000 employees and providing it to the labor union.
Samsung Electronics initially filed a police complaint on April 10 against unspecified union officials, alleging the extraction and sharing of employee data unrelated to their duties. This was followed by a specific complaint on April 16 against the official now under scrutiny, accusing him of illegally accessing the company's internal system approximately 20,000 times within an hour to view personal employee information before handing it over to a third party.
The police investigation spanned nearly five months, confirming the charges against Choi and the other official. Separately, four other Samsung Electronics employees were also referred to prosecutors on the same day for improperly accessing the company's internal system out of curiosity, though they are not accused of compiling or distributing information.