South Korea to consult Naver, after report firm faces Japan pressure to divest stake

LY

27/04/2024 07:40

By Hyunsu Yim and Katya Golubkova
       SEOUL, April 27 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Saturday
it will consult with Naver  035420.KS , after media reported
that the domestic internet company was under pressure from Japan
to divest from a venture, adding that its companies should not
face discrimination.
    The South Korean foreign ministry was asked to respond to a
Kyodo news agency report earlier this week that Japan's SoftBank
Group  9984.T  was in talks to buy shares of LY Corp  4689.T 
from Naver after administrative guidance from Japan's internal
affairs and communications ministry over a data leak last year.
    "The Korean government is firmly in the position that there
should be no discriminatory measures against our companies. We
will check Naver's position on the case and communicate with
Japan's side if necessary," the ministry said in a statement.
    LY Corp is majority owned by A Holdings, a joint venture
between SoftBank and Naver, and operates Line, a messaging app
popular in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
    The media report prompted concerns in South Korea over
possible political interference, with two incoming lawmakers
from the Rebuilding Korea Party urging the South Korean
government to take "strong action".
    Japan's internal affairs and communications ministry and
SoftBank Group did not immediately reply to Reuters' requests
for comment.
    LY Corp said earlier this month it received another
administrative guidance following one in March from the ministry
which said to accelerate "discussions on essential review of
security governance involving the entire group, including the
parent company."  
    In November last year, the company admitted unauthorised
access of its systems by a third party via Naver Cloud's system
which led to information leakage of more than 300,000 records of
personal data about Line users among others.
    Naver is cooperating with LY Corp to strengthen security, a
representative said.      

 (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul and Katya Golubkova in Tokyo;
Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((Hyunsu.Yim@thomsonreuters.com;))