Personal Information Protection Commission awards privacy staff for policy work

The Personal Information Protection Commission said it awarded 6 million won ($4,337) in special performance bonuses to one employee and two teams for expanding privacy staff across government, responding to urgent policy issues and overhauling the fine-reduction framework.

The third awards were based on work carried out from June through August.

An award-winning staffing and budget team conducted the first survey and analysis of privacy staffing and budgets across public institutions and quantified the importance of their personal-information processing systems to establish minimum staffing standards. Consultations with related ministries and individual institutions resulted in 54 additional dedicated privacy personnel at central government agencies. The commission said the expanded staffing would strengthen ministries' ability to respond to privacy breaches and help establish a continuing public-sector privacy-protection system.

A policy-planning team was recognized for coordinating responses to major issues, conducting reports and reviews of core policy matters, and identifying policy priorities for the era of artificial intelligence transformation.

Jeon Chang-min of the investigation coordination division was honored for leading an overhaul of the fine-reduction framework that considers companies' privacy-prevention investment and efforts to respond to and recover from incidents, with tougher criteria for repeat violations.

“Special performance bonuses are not simply about rewarding an individual's achievement; they also recognize and encourage the results created by not fearing change and actively taking on challenges,” Chairperson Song Gyeong-hee said.