An employee of Korea’s high-speed train has illegally accessed the personal information of K-pop boy band BTS member RM.
An exclusive report by Korean news program “SBS Eight O'Clock News” on March 1 stated that a female employee of the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) was able to access RM’s personal information he provided when he took trains.
KORAIL operates Korea’s KTX high-speed, intercity and regional trains.
The news report stated that in January January 2021, RM bought a train ticket from Seoul to Dongdaegu Station in Daegu, and his itinerary was secretly viewed by a KORAIL employee.
The KORAIL employee also looked at RM’s address, phone number, and the model of his phone that he used when he registered in the train system.
It added that the employee accessed RM’s personal information 18 times in three years since 2019.
The report stated that passengers' personal information can only be viewed by authorized departments for specific purposes. The employee worked in the KORAIL tech department that develops and operates the ticket reservation system.
"I checked RM's reservation history and saw him in person," or "I let my friend know (where he seats) so he/she could get a nearby seat," the employee told acquaintances.
SBS News added that KORAIL conducted an internal audit after getting a report that an employee was accessing the personal information of celebrities without authorization.
KORAIL confirmed the employee accessed RM's personal information without authorization but there were no circumstances of any external leak.
The audit committee recommended the suspension of the employee for violating customer privacy regulations.
After getting caught, the employee claimed, "I checked (their personal information) out of simple curiosity, and I truly regret my wrongdoings."