Will Dispute Over Naver Become a Bilateral Political Issue Between Japan and South Korea?
The Korean left is trying to turn a data leak dispute involving Naver’s Line app service in Japan into a major bilateral political issue:
Korean politicians are criticizing Seoul’s passive response to Tokyo’s apparent pressure on Korean tech giant Naver to sell its stakes in LY Corp., the Tokyo-headquartered operator of mobile messaging app Line.
They, from both ruling and opposition blocs, called the Korean government’s diplomacy “miserable” as it has not made any response while Japan is trying to “extort” technologies of the Korea-developed app, which has approximately 180 million active users in Japan and Southeast Asian nations.
Their criticism follows the Japanese government’s administrative guidance to LY to review its capital relationship with Naver after a massive data leak of user information.
The guidance is believed to be an apparent pressure to lower Naver’s control over LY. SoftBank, which jointly owns LY with Naver, said it is talking with the Korean company about controlling the joint venture.
Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), who serve on the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, held a press conference Sunday, calling for a National Assembly-level response to Japan’s attempt to “extort Line” from Naver.
“The Japanese government’s actions are a clear violation of national interests and an anti-market outrage. It is time for the National Assembly to do its job. We demand that relevant standing committees be convened immediately and the Assembly deal with the matter,” Reps. Jo Seoung-lae and Lee Yong-sun said.
“The Yoon Suk Yeol government should no longer turn a blind eye and respond proactively by upgrading this situation to a major diplomatic issue between the two countries.”
They also said the Korean government should take a strong stance, including summoning the Japanese ambassador to Korea.
Last week, the DPK called the Korean government’s response “a diplomatic disaster,” saying, “How long must we endure the dismal diplomacy that cannot even say a word of protest against Japan’s effort to take Line from Naver?”
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but what we don’t know is what the Yoon administration may be quietly trying to do in discussions with the Japanese side to advocate for Naver.
Who owns Softbank?
Mr. Son now owns ~34%
It has less than half Japanese ownership.
More than half is owned by non-institutional investors…
…or so they would like you to believe.
This can be researched a lot further.
Wikipedia: SoftBank Group Corp. (ソフトバンクグループ株式会社, SofutoBanku Gurūpu Kabushiki gaisha) is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a multitude of markets and industries ranging from the internet to automation. With over $100 billion in capital at its onset, SoftBank’s Vision Fund is the world’s largest technology-focused venture capital fund. Fund investors included sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.
The company is known for the leadership of its controversial founder and largest shareholder Masayoshi Son Its investee companies, subsidiaries and divisions, including several unprofitable unicorns, operate in robotics, artificial intelligence, software, logistics, transportation, biotechnology, robotic process automation, proptech, real estate, hospitality, broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, information technology, finance, media and marketing, and other areas. Among its most internationally recognizable current stockholdings are stakes in Arm (semiconductors), Alibaba (e-commerce), OYO Rooms (hospitality), WeWork (coworking) and Deutsche Telekom (telecommunications). SoftBank Corporation, its spun-out affiliate and former flagship business, is the third-largest wireless carrier in Japan, with 45.621 million subscribers as of March 2021. Poor investment decisions of Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group led to a panoply of losing investments across the history of the company. Google search: https://group.softbank/en/about/officer/son
The Korean left is trying to turn a data leak dispute involving Naver’s Line app service in Japan into a major bilateral political issue:
As always, @GIKorea shows his ineptitude in understanding issues relating to Korea.
As can be seen, there is no problem with the Japanese government sanctioning Naver for the data leak since it happened under their watch.
But forcing it to sell off its shares and exit the business is heavy-handed, to say the least, and shows that the Japanese government is using the data leak as a pretext to steal the business and technology from Naver.
Yet, the inept @GIKorea says it’s nothing when the Koreans themselves are up in arms against this highway robbery.
If @GIKorea truly cared about Korea then he would be calling out the Japanese government.
But for @GIKorea his concern is not the well-being of Korea and Koreans but ensuring that Yoon remains President so that the USFK stays in Korea forever.
This is why @GIKorea has no business running a blog about Korea.
Totally agree, KP.
It’s just ridiculous how this site’s owner so often brings out “The Korean Left” card every time. Then please explain the ultra-right-wing newspaper, Chosun Ilbo’s editorial on this issue:
https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2024/05/10/AN2ZB57XX5FN7HHPE5732TCCSA/
Are they also The Korean Left?