SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea vowed Friday to guard its corporations working in different markets after Japanese regulators informed LY Corp., which runs the favored chat app Line, to scale back its dependence on Naver, the Korean companion within the enterprise.
Friction over Naver’s 50% stake in LY, a enterprise with Japan’s SoftBank, surfaced after a significant safety breach at Naver’s cloud computing servers final yr. The Japanese facet instructed LY to enhance its governance and rely much less on Naver after the leak of greater than 300,000 information, together with data of Line customers.
Some Korean politicians have accused Japan of pressuring Naver to scale back its stake in LY, demanding that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s authorities undertake a stern stance towards Tokyo.
A senior Korean know-how ministry official spoke with reporters Friday after Naver confirmed it was discussing with SoftBank “all prospects,” together with promoting its shares in LY Corp.
On Wednesday, LY’s president, Takeshi Idezawa, informed reporters in Tokyo that Naver and SoftBank had been discussing their shareholdings within the app operator with the premise that SoftBank would take a majority stake.
Kang Dohyun, South Korea’s second vice know-how minister, informed reporter in Seoul that the Korean authorities had confirmed that the directions to LY from Japan’s Inner Affairs and Communications Ministry don’t particularly require Naver to scale back its stake within the firm.
However he mentioned Seoul regrets that the order was “being perceived as stress” for Naver to take action.
“I want to reiterate that the federal government is firmly dedicated to making sure that our corporations, together with Naver, don’t obtain any disadvantages or unfair remedy in international companies and investments,” Kang mentioned. “We are going to reply sternly and strongly to any discriminatory measures taken in opposition to our corporations.”
Since taking workplace in 2022, Yoon has targeted on bettering ties with Tokyo that had deteriorated as a result of longstanding grievances and strengthening mutual safety cooperation with Japan and the US within the face of North Korean nuclear threats.
Kang mentioned the federal government would help no matter resolution Naver makes about its stake in LY. If it decides to maintain function within the three way partnership, he mentioned the know-how ministry would assist it strengthen its cybersecurity.