[Exclusive] Did you forget the 'Nth Room' incident... I've been reporting in the public interest.

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Two years have passed since the so-called 'Nth Room' incident of digital sexual exploitation.

This shocking case began when social service workers illegally leaked personal information.

To prevent a recurrence, the social service workers changed the system so that they do not handle personal information at all, but the reality has not changed much.

Oddly enough, a prosecutor's office has informed itself that agents are still dealing with personal information, and whether it's okay to do so.

Let's take a look at reporter Park Se-won's report first.

<Reporter>

There are piles of papers in the scattered box.

If you look closely, it says 'Criminal Case Records' and the retention period is 2020.

In another room, documents with names and incidents are piled up.

There are even boxes that say the retention period is 2028.

Where is this place where documents containing sensitive personal information are left unattended?

The office in the video is a record storage room located on the first and second basement floors of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office.

Social service personnel belonging to the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office were in charge of lending case records in this archives office.

When a prosecutor or civil petitioner requests to see the case record, it connects to the Prosecutor's Office's record preservation system, CATS, and finds and delivers the document.

What I received to access the records retention system was the ID and password of the prosecutor's investigator.

[Mr. A/Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office Social Service Agent: I logged in using the ID and password of the investigator in charge.

(The investigator) wrote it on a sticky note and attached it to the monitor.

You said, 'You can log in with this.'] The

incident record was not sealed, so I was able to see the names of the people involved, resident registration numbers, and even the details of the incident.

It is said that he took care of documents with sensitive contents such as probation orders and temporary protective measures to be sent by mail.

You could enter and leave the archives room at any time without a separate approval process.

[Mr. B/Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office Social Worker: As soon as the elevator opens, you can see the office immediately.

So, there are a lot of cases where (complainants) come in by mistake.

You can also take photos.

There is a door with a password, but I always leave it open.]

During the investigation of the 'Nth Room' case last year, the law was amended after it was revealed that a social worker sent 200 personal information to Jo Joo-bin. Even though access was banned, work orders continued.

Social service workers who felt the problem recently reported the problem to the Military Manpower Administration.

On the 15th, the Military Manpower Administration went to the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office to investigate the situation.

However, the only corrective action was strict supervision.

The Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office gave a new ID for social service personnel who gave the record preservation system authority instead of the investigator ID.

They were instructed not to look at the documents inside when putting them in a mailing envelope and to seal them tightly.

[Mr. B/Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office Social Service Agent: (Even if you log in with a new ID) On the surface, it looks exactly the same, so I don't know.

In fact, it was only fixed in a formal way.]

Even though the social service workers directly raised the issue with the Military Manpower Administration, nothing has actually changed.

Let's go directly to the Military Manpower Administration to find out what happened.

The Military Manpower Administration is in its position to conduct another inspection and take additional measures.

[Military Manpower Administration official: That is, we will go out and check once again whether we have met the requirements in the future.

In addition, we plan to request action against the staff in charge in the future.]

The Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office explained that the record retention system accessed by the social service personnel is the same as the book search system and does not mean viewing personal information.

It is an explanation that it is not illegal if there is no personal information in the information system.

However, the problem is that social workers can see actual personal information in the process of finding and delivering documents directly after searching.

The Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office also explained, "Social service personnel are subsidizing their work under the supervision of the person in charge," but the social service personnel countered, "When handling personal information, the staff in charge did not directly manage it."

As the confirmation coverage continued, the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office today (29th) said, "Considering the nature of the prosecution's work, we plan to exclude subsidizing social service personnel in the future."

According to the E-Government Act amended in June last year, public officials who share or transfer the right to access information systems to social service personnel are subject to imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of not more than 30 million won.

(Video coverage: Kim Hak-mo, Lee Sang-hak, video editing: Lee Seung-jin)

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<Anchor>

Reporter Park Se-won, who covered this case, is here.

[Reporter Park Se-won: According to our coverage, it was confirmed that not only the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, but also social service personnel working in other public institutions are still dealing with personal information directly.

Let's listen to the story of a social worker working in an administrative agency in the metropolitan area.]

[Social service worker working in an administrative agency in the metropolitan area: Name and date of birth So, if you know how old you are, in fact, if you look up something like a resident registration certificate, you can now find your home address or something like that. [

Reporter

Park Se-won: The social service worker union also conducted a survey on 119 social service workers last May and June, and 62 of them answered, 'I experienced personal information processing during service.' I

did.]

[Reporter Park Se-won: As we reported earlier, the problem is that although the related regulations and punishments have been strengthened after the nth room incident, the reality is that this is not the case.

First of all, it is difficult for social service personnel who serve in the military to refuse orders, so this problem rarely comes out.

Also, as in the case of the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office, even if the social service personnel report to the Military Manpower Administration, no corrective measures are taken, so illegal things are happening in various places in the state institutions.

] It is important to note that the ground is caught without exception and punished without exception.

Even though the current means can sufficiently improve the problem, enforcement is not carried out.]

[Reporter Park Se-won: As the importance of personal information protection is growing, it seems necessary to conduct a full investigation at the government level to see what the situation is after the revision of the law. .]

(Video editing: Seungjin Lee)