Ideas were enough. Anyone with an entrepreneurial dream was welcome.
That openness was exactly what caught the attention of 23-year-old Choi Yeon-ju when she spotted a recruitment notice on Everytime, the campus community app popular among South Korean university students.
She signed up hoping to turn her idea into a business and eventually advanced to the first round of finalists. Participants even received Naver Pay coupons — a small bonus that made the opportunity all the more appealing.
The program, "Startup for All," is the Lee Jae Myung administration's flagship tournament-style startup audition run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups whose head Han Seong-sook was promoted to premiership.
Many others saw the same opportunity. The contest attracted a record 62,944 applicants, making it the largest government-sponsored startup competition ever held in South Korea. Organizers selected 5,000 first-round finalists to compete for prizes ranging from 10 million won ($6,427) to a grand prize of 1 billion won.
The field skewed strikingly young. Applicants in their twenties accounted for 33.2 percent of the total, the largest age group, followed by those in their thirties at 25.7 percent, according to ministry data. Altogether, people aged 39 or younger made up 68.4 percent of all applicants.
Choi was one of them, and her business idea was anything but ordinary.
"I'm currently preparing to drop out of university," she said. "I envisioned a confectionery business selling tile-like square cookies and edible glue, along with blueprints and sample kits, so people could easily create architectural-style desserts."
On June 18, the ministry notified participants that the personal information of all 5,000 first-round finalists had been exposed. The leaked data included names, email addresses and summaries of their startup ideas.
"I was honestly dumbfounded when I received a message saying my submission had been leaked," Choi said.
"I mean, this is the government we're talking about."
Investigators soon determined the breach was not the work of an outside hacker.
According to an internal investigation report by the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development submitted to lawmaker Kang Seung-gyu, the data was harvested by an AI solutions company participating in the program as a support-service vendor.
At 9 a.m. on June 15, only minutes after profiles of the 5,000 finalists became publicly available, the company allegedly used abnormal API requests and web-crawling techniques to collect email addresses that were hidden from public view before sending promotional emails to participants.
Officials later acknowledged that a similar vulnerability had already been identified in May but was never reported to senior officials.
Others shared Choi's disbelief.
A 24-year-old business information systems student, who requested anonymity, had entered the competition hoping to develop an AI-powered personal vocal coach.
"I've always loved singing, so I developed the idea with guidance from one of my professors," he said.
"I honestly believed thorough safeguards would have been put in place after the leak, considering this was a government-run project."
Not everyone reacted the same way.
"Since high school, I've wondered why people study differently," she said.
"There was a classmate who always slept early and still came first in the entire school. That made me think everyone must have their own optimal way of learning."
A guest lecture introduced her to Startup for All.
"So I decided to apply."
Compared with others, she considers herself fortunate.
"The leak was unfortunate, but most of the basic information was already visible on the Startup for All website," Cho said. "So I think it could have been much worse."
She has no intention of giving up.
"I'm currently working with my mentor to develop the business further," she said.
"Honestly, it may not be easy if the business eventually loses money. But for me, building a large user base matters more than making a profit."
The political fallout came swiftly.
Han, then SMEs minister designed the platform, but nevertheless has made Korea's second-ever female prime minister.
She publicly apologized on June 22 outside her confirmation-hearing office. "I sincerely apologize to everyone who suffered concern and inconvenience because of the personal information leak on the Startup for All platform," Han said.
"I failed to protect the trust of those who believed in the government and took on the challenge of starting a business. As the minister responsible, I feel a profound sense of responsibility and sincerely apologize."
It promised free trade-secret registration for all 5,000 finalists to help protect their ideas, offered free technology escrow services and legal consultations, and referred the case to police.
The National Intelligence Service's National Cyber Security Center and the Personal Information Protection Commission have launched a joint investigation, while the ministry has expanded its task force to include a dedicated cybersecurity team.
The second round of the program, originally planned to recruit another 10,000 participants with links to Silicon Valley and Singapore, has been postponed indefinitely.
Mentors involved in the competition urge participants not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
Jung Bo-geun, a visiting professor of international commerce and area studies at Kangwon National University and one of the program's mentors, believes the immediate commercial damage may be limited.
"Fortunately, most applicants are still in the brainstorming stage," Jung said.
"They are not yet discussing investment or operating actual businesses."
She warned, however, that stronger safeguards would become essential as projects mature.
"The next stage will involve much more sensitive information and potentially real investment," she said.
"That is where data protection becomes far more important."
Despite the controversy, Jung still sees the competition as a rare opportunity.
"Sometimes a simple sketch of an idea, without a detailed business plan, can grow into something that changes the world."
For students weighing whether to trade a diploma or a stable first job for entrepreneurship, that dream now comes with a question the government has yet to fully answer:
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.