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Case concerning the requirement to enter the resident registration number in telephone counseling service [2008] KRNHRC 30 (1 September 2008)

In September 2008, Lee had to input his resident registration number when he was using
telephone counseling service provided by the National Tax Service, the Ministry of Labor,
and the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. Lee filed a complaint with the
Commission that the resident registration number was not necessary for the telephone
counseling service and that requiring citizens to insert their resident registration number
constituted an excessive collection of personal information.

After an investigation, the Commission found that citizens had to enter their resident
registration number to use the telephone counseling service, regardless of the type of
service citizens would get, and that citizens could not access an agent or general
information service, if they did not enter their resident registration number. Therefore, it
concluded that these practices were an excessive collection of personal information and
against the right to privacy.

The Commission recommended that the Minister of Labor and the Commissioner of the
National Tax Service improve the telephone counseling service to ensure that citizens can
access the service without having to enter their resident registration number. Meanwhile,
the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs improved its service system to help
citizens access telephone counseling without entering their resident registration number
during the Commission's investigation.