Prime minister nominee apologizes for startup incubation program information leak

Prime minister nominee Han Seong-sook apologized on Monday over a recent information leak from the government's website for an audition-style startup incubation program.

An AI solution firm serving as a project partner was found to have exploited a security loophole on the website for the "Startup for All" program and collected the emails and startup ideas — as well as the judges' reviews of the proposals — of the 5,000 people who passed the first round of the audition.

The leak came to light after the company sent promotional emails to the successful candidates.

"I earnestly apologize for the concern and inconvenience caused by the personal information leak," Han said in her capacity as the minister for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups. "I feel heavily responsible for failing to protect the trust of the applicants […] and offer words of deep apology."

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups also came under fire for reporting the leak to the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) some 70 hours after learning of the incident. The ministry said that it took emergency security measures to close the loophole, identify the damage and notify the participants of the leak before reporting it to KISA.

Han pledged to take thorough security and related measures to prevent a similar incident from happening.

"Starting a business is a challenge, one that builds the future with new ideas, possibilities and growth engines for our economy," she said. "The passion and spirit […] of startups should not be broken due to this incident. We will make sure that aspiring entrepreneurs won't hesitate in taking on new challenges."

The program was launched early this year to support aspiring entrepreneurs.

Of the 5,000 successful candidates selected from some 63,000 applicants, 1,000 will advance to a multistage audition process, with about 100 finalists competing in a nationwide competition to determine the final winners eligible for up to 1 billion won ($651,000) in support.

Yonhap