Korea puts 28 police officers and its science ministry on a breach at seven financial firms

Lee's own words set the strength of the AI claim. "In some hacking cases, details have emerged of the possible use of artificial intelligence (AI), causing the people to feel great concern and anxiety," he told the Cabinet ^[3]. The qualifiers are his: some cases, possible use. The reports do not include a customer count, the names of the other four firms, or a description of what AI did in any of the attacks ^[2][16].

According to Yonhap, Lee went on to say AI-driven methods are increasing the scope of damage to previously unseen levels ^[5]. He asked for faster development and adoption of AI tools built for cyber security ^[9]. "It is difficult to respond to evolving cyber threats by handling accidents after they happen," he said. "We must have the security capabilities to detect and block attacks in advance." ^[8] The one spending figure on the record belongs to the science ministry, whose information protection budget is up 44% from a year earlier, according to minister Bae Kyung-hoon ^[11].

For the seven firms, the more direct cost runs through a statute. Police are examining violations of the information and communications network law with a 28-member team ^[4]. A revised version of that act took effect on October 1, five days before the Cabinet meeting ^[6][17]. It lets authorities open on-site investigations as soon as they detect signs of hacking, even without a report from the company ^[6]. Bae said the government "will also strengthen punitive and economic sanctions" ^[12]. He also said: "The revised Information and Communications Network Act took effect only recently, so its effectiveness is not yet immediately visible, but clear results will emerge going forward." ^[7]

The opposition's complaint at the same day's audit was about who holds the case. Rep. Choi Hyung-doo of the People Power Party said the hacking "is not a matter for the Financial Services Commission or the Financial Supervisory Service but, under the government's structure, a matter for the Ministry of Science and ICT." ^[13] Rep. Seo Cheon-ho, of the same party, noted that response systems are divided by agency and that there is no government-wide task force ^[14]. Bae accepted the role. "The Ministry of Science and ICT will take the lead in managing and responding to breach incidents and will step up efforts to pass information on to companies and across ministries," he said ^[15]. So the government has put one ministry in charge and 28 officers on the probe ^[4][15], and by Seo's account it has not built a cross-government unit ^[14].

The outcomes split on what the police find. If AI turns out to have played a minor part, this becomes an ordinary enforcement case under the amended act, and the open question is how large the sanctions are. Should AI-assisted methods run through most of the seven breaches, the money Lee described goes to state-built defenses, and the firms look more like targets than offenders. A third path is a remit fight between ministries that leaves the new on-site power unused in its first weeks ^[17].

I think the first money to move will be the firms', under an act whose own minister says sanctions will get tougher ^[12]. The counter-case has weight: a president who calls the attacks AI-driven ^[5] has political reasons to treat the banks as victims of a new kind of threat, and heavy penalties would undercut that framing. This view is wrong if the police attribute the breaches to AI-assisted methods that ordinary controls could not have caught, and no sanctions follow under the amended act.