Blossoming Japan-South Korea ties tested by data leak involving tech giants Line and Naver

TOKYO – A data breach involving the parent companies of Japan’s most popular messaging app Line and South Korea’s most used search engine Naver threatens to reverse a thaw in relations between the two East Asian neighbours.

A spate of leaks of over 500,000 user records at LY Corp, which runs Line and Yahoo Japan, from November 2023 to February 2024, had prompted Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to issue “administrative guidance”.