Abstract
In May 2021, the "Act on the Protection of Personal
Information" was revised. The amendment is intended
to resolve various imbalances and inconsistencies
in the personal information protection laws
and regulations among the public sector, private sector,
and regions in order to promote the utilization
of data across public, private, and regional borders
toward the realization of a digital society. In the
case of public sector personal information protection
legislation, the following three main points have
been revised. The first is the unification of rules between
the public and private sectors to change the
content of various public sector rules, including the
definition of "personal information"; the second is the
introduction of common rules for the protection of
personal information by local governments; and the
third is the expansion of the supervisory authority
of the Personal Information Protection Commission
to the public sector. Although it can be evaluated
that these amendments have resolved the imbalances
and inconsistencies in personal information protection
legislation to a certain extent, there are still
issues to be addressed in terms of ensuring the level
of protection of personal information and appropriately
addressing privacy risks that are essential in
promoting the utilization of data.
