Japanese Administrative Guidance on LINE Yahoo Sparks Strong Opposition in South Korea

Following the Japanese government’s request for LINE Yahoo Japan to reconsider its capital alliance with South Korean company NAVER, Korean citizens are fiercely reacting, claiming, “Japan is trying to steal from Korea again!” 

 

What exactly is happening in our neighboring country? Will anti-Japanese activities intensify? We collaborated with a local coordinator in Korea to investigate the situation.

Following a case of unauthorized access, the Japanese government issued administrative guidance to LINE Yahoo.

The incident started with unauthorized access to LINE Yahoo in September 2023. According to LINE Yahoo’s announcement in November of that year, it was reported that up to approximately 440,000 pieces of user information from the LINE app may have been leaked.

The cause of this unauthorized access was linked to their relationship with the South Korean NAVER Group.

The trigger was an incident where a computer belonging to an employee of a subcontractor of NAVER Cloud, a subsidiary, became infected with malware. Due to LINE Yahoo sharing authentication systems with NAVER, unauthorized access was able to breach Japanese systems, resulting in information leakage.

Responding seriously to the situation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued administrative guidance to LINE Yahoo. However, following subsequent reports stating that it would take over two years for LINE Yahoo to fully separate its network from NAVER, a second round of administrative guidance was issued, urging LINE Yahoo to reconsider its capital relationship with NAVER. 

The South Korean opposition parties fiercely opposed the situation.

The problem came next. The leader of South Korea’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, Lee Jae-myung, appealed to the public on social media, saying, “Descendants of Hirobumi Ito (referring to Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Takeaki Matsumoto) are trying to steal Korea’s cyber territory, ‘LINE.’”

Furthermore, South Korean media repeatedly fueled nationalism with reports like “LINE is being taken away by Japan!” Following these movements, the number of downloads of the LINE app in South Korea has sharply increased.

With this controversy, could we see a resurgence of the anti-Japanese boycott movement, similar to the one in 2019 in South Korea? To understand the current situation, I spoke with a coordinator living in Seoul, South Korea.

“It’s more of a patriotic movement than anti-Japanese sentiment.”

How are general users in Korea reacting to the Japanese government’s request for LINE Yahoo to reconsider its capital relationship with NAVER?

“It feels like there are two types of reactions. Some people say, ‘It’s becoming political,’ or ‘We have KakaoTalk, so it’s okay,’ showing little interest. Others are angry after hearing the reports.

Former President Moon Jae-in was tough on Japan, but now it’s the opposite. So, those who are dissatisfied with the current administration under President Yoon Suk-yeol are expressing their anger with ‘Unbelievable!’

In Korea, they often talk about a ‘common enemy.’ When opposition parties want to boost their popularity, they use this phrase, and it’s like a perfect topic for them.

If this were a different country, I don’t think there would be such reactions. However, because Korea has a history of being colonized by Japan, they can be very sensitive to the idea of ‘losing something to Japan.’”

From what I’ve heard, it seems that rather than being primarily anti-Japanese, the sentiment is being used more for patriotic movements and criticism of the government. Another significant reason is that in Korea, the widely used messenger app is KakaoTalk, not LINE.

KakaoTalk holds a market share of 94.4% within South Korea.

How extensively is KakaoTalk used in South Korea?

“As of now, LINE holds a market share of 20%, while KakaoTalk holds 94.4% in South Korea.”

South Koreans do use LINE, but its market share is significantly lower compared to KakaoTalk?

“Originally, people who use LINE in Korea are those who work with Japan, like Japanese, Taiwanese, and Thai people who chat in group chats. There are also people who like Japanese anime and use those stickers.

Other than that, KakaoTalk is really the main app. Group chats at school or work are on KakaoTalk, and public announcements and messages from the National Tax Service are also on KakaoTalk.

LINE was released in June 2011, while KakaoTalk came out over a year earlier in March 2010, spreading rapidly with smartphones. Before LINE, there was another app called NAVER Talk, but since KakaoTalk was already in use, neither LINE nor NAVER Talk gained much popularity.”

In Japan, official communications from the government are indeed conducted through LINE. If there were a scenario where LINE were to be taken over by another country, it would likely cause a stir. However, for other messenger apps, there may not be as much interest from people unless they have a specific reason to use them.

The situation is starting to calm down, but it remains precarious and requires continued vigilance.

However, it seems optimism is not overly prevalent. According to opinions shared by the coordinator’s acquaintances in Korea through KakaoTalk, many were critical. Representing the views of the opposition.

“The reason is that (Japan is) saying things forcibly through government decisions, not through free will (economically). I think it’s something that shouldn’t happen in a free-market society. I believe they wouldn’t say this if it were an American company they were dealing with. Of course, I think it’s because it’s the foolish Yoon Suk-yeol government they’re dealing with. Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval rating is 21%. The approval rating among people in their 40s is 8%. I don’t think he’ll last long.” (Parentheses for clarification)

There was significant criticism towards the ruling party for being too soft in response to the Japanese government’s demands.

Furthermore, when exploring opinions within Korean companies from other sources, it was found that everyone from young people to middle-aged individuals opposed the idea. They expressed sentiments like, “We don’t need LINE right now, but we don’t want to hand it over to Japan because it’s Korean.”

Some pro-Japanese young people in their early twenties joked, “I always thought it was originally Japanese (laughs),” and there were voices suggesting, “Since hardly anyone uses it in Korea, it might be better to give it to Japan.” However, these views are considered to be in the minority within South Korea.

Currently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan explains that their request for capital review is not aimed at taking over management rights but rather at revising security governance. On the Korean side, there are reports that they are beginning to settle down, aiming to transfer management of Japanese user data to Japan. However, depending on political disputes between Korean ruling and opposition parties, there remains a risk that the situation could change unexpectedly.