South Korean authorities have determined that SK Telecom (SKT) bears responsibility for a major data breach involving the leak of SIM card information that affected approximately half of the country's population. The Ministry of Science and ICT reviewed SKT's terms of service and concluded that the company must waive early termination fees for customers who choose to leave the network due to the breach. SK Telecom has accepted this ruling and announced a comprehensive compensation and information protection plan valued at around 1 trillion won. The breach, traced back to a malware infection on SKT servers dating to August 6, 2021, exposed vulnerabilities in the company's data security and incident response systems. Following the announcement, SKT's stock price fell by over 5%. As part of the response, SKT began offering a refund inquiry service on July 5 for affected customers and has allowed those unable to terminate their contracts within the designated period to submit documentation for fee reimbursement. The decision to waive fees has led to a notable increase in customer churn, with approximately 75,000 subscribers switching to other carriers within five days after the announcement. The South Korean government has also warned that refusal to comply with the fee waiver could result in corrective orders or license revocation for SK Telecom.