South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety says it blocked access to clinical-trial documents after an opposition lawmaker reported that 2,672 files could be retrieved despite being treated as non-public in the regulator's interface. The disclosure came during a National Assembly health committee audit on October 13 and raised questions about access controls around official drug information.
According to MBC's coverage, People Power Party lawmaker Lee So-hee said she obtained the files without a login or password by using ChatGPT to locate or retrieve them. She said 839 documents included company material designated non-public and 2,208 contained officials' mobile telephone numbers. These figures are her findings, not a completed independent forensic audit.
The alleged exposure route
Regulator chief Oh Yoo-kyung apologized and told lawmakers the agency learned of the issue the previous day, blocked access early on October 13 and began a wider examination. Closing the route to the files does not by itself establish how long the material was accessible or whether third parties had already downloaded copies.
The reference to ChatGPT needs precision. The hearing allegation concerns documents accessible through a government-managed system. It does not by itself prove that a chatbot stored the files, trained on their contents or caused the exposure. A technical audit of access permissions and retrieval paths is needed before assigning responsibility.
- Files reported
- 2,672
- Company-information files
- 839 alleged
- Files with phone numbers
- 2,208 alleged
Clinical-trial documents can contain commercial information and personal contact data, so the agency faces questions about notifying affected parties, document classification and security controls. Its next disclosures should identify the exposure window, verified file categories and any independent review. The scale of downstream misuse remains unknown.