The Interior and Safety Ministry said on Feb. 12 it has fined Audi Volkswagen Korea and the state-run Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency for violating a law on the protection of private information.

The Korean unit of the German carmaker was found to have failed to dispose of private information on 81,841 people that it has kept for more than three years, while having no records authorizing its employees to access private information, its change and cancellation.

　 As an administrative measure, the ministry imposed a 12 million won (US$10,680) fine on Audi VW for the violation.

The state-run agency violated the individual information protection law by failing to maintain a log on the operation of its employees who access a system on private health information. The agency was fined twice in the last three years, 6 million won each time.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires ()