Republic of Korea: Announced Inquiry on the Safe Use of Biometric Information by Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC)

On 31 May 2023, the Korean Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) initiated discussions and established a research group focused on the safe use of biometric information. According to the PIPC, biometric data, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, are increasingly utilised for various functions, including smartphone unlocking, access screening, and voiced-based AI. However, the PIPC is also concerned about the potential misuse, abuse, or unauthorised disclosure of biometric data. To address these concerns in relation to the recent advancement of generative artificial intelligence and the growing collection of image and video data, the PIPC has formed a research group to define biometric information, establish standards for its protection, and discuss regulations on real-time face recognition technology.