'보복대행' 조직에 고객 주소 넘긴 혐의…경찰, 여수 우체국 압수수색

A Postal Team Leader Is Suspected of Passing Customer Addresses to a Revenge-for-Hire Group, and Police Have Searched the Office

Part of the September 9, 2026 daily edition

서울경찰청 광역수사단 광역수사대가 지난달 18일 여수의 한 우체국과 이 우체국 팀장급 6급 공무원인 40대 남성 A씨의 휴대전화 등을 압수수색했습니다. A씨는 업무 과정에서 알게 된 고객 주소 등 개인정보를 ‘보복대행’ 조직원 2명에게 유출해 개인정보보호법을 위반한 혐의를 받습니다. 경찰은 A씨가 우체국 내부 물류 전산망인 ’포스트넷’에서 고객 정보를 무단으로 취득한 것으로 보고 있습니다. 포스트넷은 물류 담당 직원이 고객 이름이나 등기번호만 입력하면 거주지 주소와 연락처 등을 조회할 수 있는 시스템입니다. 정보 보관 기한인 1년 이내에 우체국 배송 서비스를 이용한 고객이라면 지역과 상관없이 전국 단위로 조회가 가능한 것으로 알려졌습니다. 경찰은 자세한 사건 경위와 개인정보 유출 규모 등을 조사하고 있습니다.

Translation

서울경찰청 광역수사단 광역수사대 searched a post office in 여수 on the 18th of last month, along with the mobile phone and other belongings of A, a man in his forties at team-leader level there and a grade-6 civil servant. A is suspected of breaking 개인정보보호법 by leaking customer information, including addresses, that he learned in the course of his work to two members of a '보복대행' group. Police believe he took the customer information from '포스트넷', the post office's internal logistics system. On 포스트넷, staff handling logistics can look up a home address, a contact number and the like by entering only a customer's name or a registered-mail number. It is understood that any customer who has used a post office delivery service within the one-year retention period can be looked up nationwide, regardless of region. Police are investigating the circumstances of the case and the scale of the leak.

Vocabulary

압수수색명사 (noun)a search and seizure
유출하다동사 (verb)to leak (information)
혐의명사 (noun)a suspicion, an allegation
무단명사 (noun)without permission, unauthorised
취득하다동사 (verb)to acquire, to obtain
조회하다동사 (verb)to look up, to query (a record)
전산망명사 (noun)a computer network, an internal system
경위명사 (noun)the circumstances, how something came about

Grammar points

혐의를 받다to be suspected of, to face an allegation

혐의 is what the police are alleging, and 받다 puts the person on the receiving end of it, so the phrase reports the accusation without asserting it. That distinction is not decoration: Korean papers use 혐의를 받다 precisely because writing the act as a plain past tense would state as fact something a court has not decided. The clause describing what was allegedly done comes first, in the plain past, and 혐의를 받다 closes it off — so read to the end of the sentence before deciding what is being claimed.

Example: A씨는 개인정보를 유출해 개인정보보호법을 위반한 혐의를 받습니다.

A is suspected of breaking 개인정보보호법 by leaking personal information.

-(으)ㄴ 것으로 보다to believe that, to take the view that

보다 here is not 'to see' but 'to regard', and 것으로 marks the reading being taken. The whole point is whose view it is: 경찰은 ... 것으로 보고 있다 attributes the conclusion to the police, leaving the paper out of it. Set it beside 밝혀졌다, which says a thing has been established, and 알려졌다, which says it is understood without naming a source — this one article uses two of the three.

Example: 경찰은 A씨가 고객 정보를 무단으로 취득한 것으로 보고 있습니다.

Police believe A took the customer information without authorisation.

-(이)라면if it is (the case that), anyone who is

(이)라면 is the conditional built on 이다, so it sets a condition on what something is rather than on what happens. Attached to a described person, it reads as 'anyone who is that', which is how one sentence can cover a whole class at once. Here it is what makes the sentence alarming: the condition is not narrow, so the class it defines is very large.

Example: 1년 이내에 우체국 배송 서비스를 이용한 고객이라면 지역과 상관없이 조회가 가능합니다.

Any customer who has used a post office delivery service within a year can be looked up, regardless of region.

'보복대행' 조직에 고객 주소 넘긴 혐의…경찰, 여수 우체국 압수수색

Translation

Vocabulary

Grammar points

혐의를 받다to be suspected of, to face an allegation

-(으)ㄴ 것으로 보다to believe that, to take the view that

-(이)라면if it is (the case that), anyone who is

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