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The resident registration numbers of government figures from President Roh Moo-hyun and Prime Minister Han Myung-sook down are freely available on the Internet and open to fraudulent use. United Liberal Democrat lawmaker Ryu Geun-chan drew attention to the leak in a Science, Technology, Information and Telecommunication Committee meeting in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
A Chosun Ilbo search for the resident registration number of President Roh and Prime Minister Han and other government officials at online portals yielded them within minutes. The reporters first searched for Roh¡¯s birthday and then typed the name and date into Google, which immediately produced his resident registration number. Any child, in other words, could discover a number still widely used to protect user accounts at sensitive websites.
Roh¡¯s resident registration number has in fact been used by somebody to sign up for some 20 websites. They include youth-oriented game and entertainment sites such as Lineage, Pmang, NetMarble, OnGameNet, SayClub, BugsMusic and Chollian and organization and corporate websites including Cheong Wa Dae, Asiana Airlines and Samsung Electronics. Han¡¯s number was also used to sign up for 12 game and entertainment websites.
Altogether Roh¡¯s number was used 416 times online, 280 times for adult verification and 64 for membership, an Internet information provider says. Since it is unlikely that the president and premier themselves signed up for game and entertainment sites that appeal mainly to teenagers, the numbers are likely to have been used fraudulently.
¡°When the resident registration numbers of the president and prime minister are made public, they can be used by criminals and even pose threat to our national security,¡± Ryu warned. ¡°We need to come up with special measures to deal with this matter.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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