A female police officer from the Chungnam Police Department, identified only as 'A' and in her thirties, has been suspended after misusing the police intranet to obtain the home address of a famous trot singer.
According to a report by Yonhap News on June 4, 'A' then visited the singer's residence in Seoul without permission.
Photo via allkpop
Though no harm was caused during the visit, the incident alarmed the trot singer, prompting them to report it to the authorities. An investigation revealed that the officer had accessed the singer's home address via the police's internal network. The identity of the trot singer remains undisclosed.
In response to this breach of privacy, the Chungnam Police Department has suspended the officer and begun disciplinary proceedings. This case adds to a troubling pattern of unauthorised access to personal information by police officers.
Instances of police misconduct related to personal information are not uncommon. In 2014, an officer was imprisoned for illegally accessing debtors' personal information through a computer network. More recently, on the 29th of last month, a former police officer received a suspended prison sentence for leaking suspects' personal information from a case he was handling.
Just two days earlier, a current officer was prosecuted for leaking investigative information to an accomplice in a voice phishing organisation.
Moreover, on May 20th, authorities applied for an arrest warrant for a former officer accused of impersonating a detective to illegally obtain the personal information of seven women in their thirties.
The Chungnam Police Department is currently investigating the suspended officer for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, which can result in a penalty of up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million KRW (approximately RM171,158).
