AN IT employee of the South Korean railway transit has accessed the itinerary data of BTS’ leader Kim Nam Joon, popularly known as RM, and shared it with at least one person who apparently would like to sit near the BTS idol.

Some ARMY, the legion of fans of BTS, called on the artist’s management to sue the employee of Korea Railroad (KORAIL) Corporation for a data privacy violation.

SBS TV exclusive

In an exclusive interview, Korean TV newscast SBS Eight O’Clock interviewed the KORAIL employee, whom they referred to as “Employee A.”

Employee A admitted to sharing with a “friend” the information about where RM was seated.

“I checked RM’s reservation history and saw him in person.

“I let my friend know where he (RM) seats so she/he can get a nearby seat,” Employee A told SBS.

KORAIL audits

KORAIL conducted an internal audit and confirmed that an IT employee viewed the BTS’ member’s data 18 times since 2019.

“We confirmed ‘A’ accessed personal information without permission, but it has not been confirmed that ‘A’ leaked the information outside the company,” KORAIL said in a statement. 

Employee A was suspended. 

All passengers booking tickets in KORAIL must input their data: name, gender, birthday, nationality, contact information, e-mail address, and passport number.

KORAIL stressed their passengers’ data are “secured” and can only be accessed by authorized departments for specific purposes.

However, in this case, Employee A had access to passenger data being a member of the tech department that develops and operates the ticket reservation system.

The erring KORAIL employee admitted to checking out the BTS’ data.

“I checked [their personal information] out of simple curiosity, and I truly regret my wrong doings.” Employee A told SBS News. 

KORAIL is a public corporation managed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation in South Korea.

ARMY calls out HYBE to protect RM

After the official report of SBS News regarding the issue, ARMY called the attention of BTS’ talent management, HYBE Corporation, to take action and to protect their artist.

“When are you going to do something to protect and take legal action for these people who violated Namjoon rights[?],” ashy said.

‘HYBE PROTECT BTS’ has trended, with 12,000 tweets as of this writing. 

Meanwhile, BTS’ label, Big Hit Music, said they will verify this allegation and “take the necessary steps to protect our artist.”

This is the second time the privacy of the BTS members was violated.

On March 22, 2022, a map of Yeonsan Village back in 2021 was released by Yeonje District Community Security Council showing different landmarks and popular places in the village. 

One of the tourist attractions in the map is the former home of BTS member Jungkook’s grandmother with a label ‘The house where BTS Jungkook’s grandmother used to live,’ reported by a Korean newspaper Busan Illbo.

Who is Kim Nam Joon

For those who are not into KPop trends, RM  is a rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and member of South Korean boy group BTS under HYBE Corporation (formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment). 

RM is the leader of BTS, a Grammy-nominated Korean group that has amassed one of the largest fan bases worldwide since their June 2013 debut.

Aside from his remarkable career as a BTS member, Kim Nam Joon has already released 2 mixtapes: RM (March 2015) and Mono (October 2018). On December 2, 2022, he made his official solo debut with his first studio album Indigo.

Reports by Manilyn Olbes