The top science ministry official said the government may compel KT to waive early termination fees if it finds that the major South Korean mobile provider breached its responsibility to provide a secure communication service following a major data breach.

Ryu Je-myung, 2nd vice minister at the Ministry of Science and ICT, made the remarks at a session of the parliamentary science committee at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Ryu said authorities currently investigating the hacking incident and subsequent reports of payment fraud among its subscribers will shed light on whether KT had violated its duty to its customers and that the government would take necessary steps if the findings show that the company was at fault.

While KT has denied any risk of cloned phones using the syphoned personal data, the vice minister said authorities plan to review all possibilities.

KT CEO Kim Young-shub said during the same hearing that the company is actively considering waiving early termination fees for more than 20-thousand subscribers whose personal information was exposed in the recent breach.