Naver To Consult South Korea After Japan’s Pressure To Divest Stake

(CTN News) – According to media reports on Saturday, South Korea will consult with Naver, a domestic internet company. This is after it was reported that the Japanese government pressed Naver to divest from a venture and that it shouldn’t be discriminated against.

It was reported earlier this week that the South Korean foreign ministry was required to respond to a report that Japan’s SoftBank Group was considering buying shares of LY Corp from Naver after it received administrative guidance from the Japanese government in response to a data leak of last year.

According to a Kyodo news agency report earlier this week, the South Korean foreign ministry had to respond to that report.

In the opinion of the Korean government, our companies should not be subjected to any discriminatory measures as a result of the country’s foreign policy. According to the ministry, we will check Naver’s position on the matter and, if needed, we will communicate with Japan about the matter in order to resolve it.

In Japan and other parts of Asia, Line is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, which is owned by LY Corporation, which is owned by A Holdings, which is a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver.

Two incoming lawmakers of the Rebuilding Korea Party have called on the South Korean government to take “strong action” in response to the media report that sparked concern over possible political interference in South Korea.

Reuters’ inquiries for comment on the matter were not immediately answered by the Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and SoftBank Group.

After receiving another administrative guidance earlier this month from the Ministry of Health, LY Corp said earlier this month that the review of security governance should be accelerated, and that this should involve the whole group, including the parent company, in the discussions.

An unauthorised third party accessed the company’s systems via Naver Cloud’s system in November last year. The unauthorized access led to the leakage of over 300,000 records of personal information about users of Line, including a number of Line users.

According to the representative from Naver, there has been a cooperation between the company and LY Corp in order to strengthen the security of the system.

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