The privacy data protection agency is considering launching an investigation into the National Election Commission (NEC) for allegedly leaking the personal information of about 3,000 employees, officials said Thursday. The personal data of the approximately 3,000 NEC workers, including their names, divisions and IP addresses, were accidentally leaked online in late May during an internal security inspection, along with internal data containing the results of monthly security checks on employees' PCs. According to officials, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has recently requested that the NEC provide data related to the leak for a preliminary review to determine whether to launch an investigation. The review will reportedly focus on whether the election commission complied with mandatory security requirements for data protection, as well as the circumstances and the extent of the leak. The NEC, however, insists that the compromised data does not constitute a personal information leak b ecause it is already publicly available on its website. Therefore, it claims it had no obligation to comply with the requirement to report a data leak within 72 hours of learning of it. A PIPC official said that the agency "is reviewing whether the election watchdog's position is legally valid or not." Source: Yonhap News Agency