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The South Korean government said on Wednesday it will conduct a comprehensive inspection of information technology (IT) systems at public, financial and telecommunications companies as part of nationwide cybersecurity measures following recent data breaches at major mobile carriers. 

"To ease the growing public anxiety over hacking, a comprehensive security vulnerability test will be immediately conducted on about 1,600 IT systems in the public, financial and telecommunications sectors used by the majority of citizens," the Ministry of Science and ICT and other related ministries said in a joint press statement.

The inspection will cover 288 public infrastructure facilities, 152 central and provincial administrative institutions, 261 financial companies, and 949 telecommunications and platform operators, reports Yonhap news agency.

The government said it plans to apply stricter inspection methods to telecom companies, simulating real-world hacking attempts.

The announcement came after large-scale data breaches were reported in recent months from major telecom companies and a credit card firm, including SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and Lotte Card Co., which have fueled public concerns over safety in the nation's financial and mobile network infrastructure.

As part of the governmentwide measures, authorities will establish a coordinated, systematic response system among relevant agencies to streamline investigation and prevention efforts.

Regulations will be revised to allow on-site investigations without prior notice, a move aimed at preventing companies from concealing cyber intrusion cases, the ministries said.

Penalties will be toughened for entities that violate security obligations, including delayed reporting of hacking incidents, failure to implement recurrence prevention measures and repeated leaks of personal or financial data.

In addition, the government plans to introduce rules requiring all listed firms to disclose their cybersecurity spending.