South Korea has pledged to safeguard its companies operating in foreign markets following a directive from Japanese regulators to LY Corp., the operator of the Line chat app, to reduce its reliance on Korean partner Naver. The friction arose after a security breach at Naver's cloud computing servers last year, prompting Japan to urge LY to enhance its governance and lessen its dependence on Naver.
Amid accusations from Korean politicians that Japan is pressuring Naver to reduce its stake in LY, discussions are ongoing between Naver and SoftBank, the Japanese partner in the venture, regarding potential share adjustments. LY's president indicated that SoftBank might acquire a majority stake in the company.
