THE KUKMIN DAILY

“Hello, this is the election office of National Assembly member candidate X.”

Ahead of the local elections on June 13, citizens are receiving campaign phone calls even from regions where they are not residents. They are asking whether their personal information may have been leaked, and church directories are among the obvious suspects. In a recent cable channel broadcast, it was reported that routes of personal information leakage include member directories of religious organizations.

In fact, a church directory often contains details including photos, residential addresses, and contact numbers, and is considered a “treasure house” of personal information. Churches have long used the directory for effective management of their members and to encourage fellowship among members.

In the past, these directories caused no problem. Since the early 2000s, however, the value of personal information has increased to the extent that it is illegally circulated and sold, and this has become a serious social problem. To prevent such misuse, churches these days tend not to produce directories. When they do, they ask each church member how much information he or she is willing to include in the directory. Churches with long histories are even seeking ways to destroy altogether the various kinds of directories they have produced.

The Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK - Tonghap) general assembly has removed all information except names from its delegates list. PCK Tonghap Data and Publicity Team staff Lee Sang-won said, “We’ve finally decided to erase all the personal information of nearly 1,500 delegates from our general assembly directory. The resource material to be distributed during the general assembly will contain only the names of delegates by presbytery, thereby cutting off the possibility that personal information will be misused.”

Reporter Jang Chang-Il (jangci@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)


Original Article in Korean:
지방선거 후보한테 수시로 걸려오는 전화·문자 때문에: 교회 친목용 교인수첩, 교회서 사라지나