Industry figures from South Korea and abroad, including those from Tving, where a large-scale personal data leak occurred, the three telecom carriers, and Google, Apple and Meta, will appear as witnesses at the parliamentary state audit. Scatter Lab, operator of the AI character chat service Zeta, was also listed as a witness for a second straight year over risks linked to AI chatbots.

The National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee held a full meeting on Tuesday and approved a motion to request the attendance of witnesses and reference witnesses for the 2026 state audit. The confirmed list includes 42 people: 29 witnesses and 13 reference witnesses.

In this year's witness list, information security issues linked to a string of recent hacking and personal data leak incidents accounted for a large share.

At the audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT to be held at the National Assembly on Oct. 6, Tving CEO Ju-hee Choi (최주희) will appear as a witness over hacking and customer compensation issues. CJ ENM CEO Sang-hyun Yoon (윤상현) was also adopted as a witness to confirm the parent company's information security governance and investment, and its management and oversight system related to Tving's large-scale personal data breach incident.

Security chiefs at the three telecom carriers were also listed as witnesses. Jong-hyun Lee (이종현), chief information security officer at SK Telecom, Sang-woon Lee (이상운), KT CISO, and Kwan-hee Hong (홍관희), LG Uplus CISO, were requested to attend. Key questions are expected to cover information security systems after cyber incidents, security investment and staffing operations, user compensation and steps to prevent a recurrence.

Meta Korea CEO Jin-ah Kim (김진아) was requested to appear over personal data infringement and leaks and issues involving impersonation accounts. Jung-hoon Kim (김정훈), CISO at Woowa Brothers, Soo-kyung Park (박수경), CEO of Duo, Seung-il Hong (홍승일), CEO of Healing Paper, operator of Gangnam Unni, Han-wook Lim (임한욱), CEO of Toss Payments, and Yong-seok Shin (신용석), Toss Payments CISO, were also included as witnesses, along with Coupang CISO Brett Anthony Mathis, citing personal data leak incidents and follow-up measures.

The committee will also look into pending issues surrounding global platforms. Google Korea President Koo Yoon (윤구) was adopted as a witness for the Oct. 6 audit over controversy related to Google's app market and differences in YouTube subscription fees. Apple Korea CEO Mark Lee will be questioned at the audit of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission on Oct. 12 over excluding satellite GPS from emergency rescue information and over in-app payments and tax evasion issues.

Telegram's Korea representative Yeon-ju Oh (오연주) was adopted as a witness over measures for Telegram channels where illegal information is distributed. X Korea CEO Chang-seop Shin (신창섭) was also adopted as a witness, citing the spread of posts selling and distributing narcotics through social networking services and the status of reporting, blocking and deletion responses.

Pending issues related to AI services will also be on the audit agenda. Scatter Lab CEO Jong-yoon Kim (김종윤) will appear as a witness at the Oct. 12 audit of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission, citing risks related to AI chatbots. Scatter Lab operates Zeta, an AI platform in which users talk with AI characters to create stories.

Kim was also adopted as a witness at last year's audit over the issue of protecting minor users of Zeta, but did not receive questioning at the time as the audit was disrupted by clashes between the ruling and opposition parties. With his selection again this year, user protection issues linked to AI chatbots are expected to be discussed again.

The committee will also examine the impact of AI algorithms. Kyo-hyun Koo (구교현), head of the Rider Union branch of the Public Transport Workers' Union, will attend as a reference witness at the Oct. 6 audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT over the status of AI algorithm impacts.

In broadcasting, issues involving YTN, KBS and regional broadcasters will also be addressed. Seung-han Shin (신승한), a Broadcasting and Communications Commission director, Jung-seop Bae (배중섭), full-time vice chairman of the Korea Information Security Industry Association, and Sung-eun Cho (조성은) of Samil PwC were adopted as witnesses, citing the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results related to the sale of YTN. KBS Journalists Association Chairman Gwang-ho Choi (최광호) was requested to attend over the composition of the KBS board and issues related to its programming rules.

The committee's state audit will run from Oct. 6 to 23.