South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission on Thursday fined SK Telecom (KRX:017670) with an amount of 134.8 billion won for the breach of customer data in a cyberattack in April, Bloomberg reported the same day.

The cyberattack compromised the data of nearly half of South Korea's population. The fine was prompted by the telecommunication giant's failure to report data breaches on time and to secure user data in a proper manner, according to the report.

PIPC Chairman Ko Haksoo said SK Telecom had long been in a "vulnerable state", with issues left unaddressed despite opportunities to solve them.

The telecommunications giant had allegedly dodged securing user data properly since 2022, the report said.

Shares of SK Telecom fell nearly 1% at market close.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)