South Korea's data protection watchdog said on Wednesday that it has imposed monetary penalties on six companies and institutions, including technology giant Microsoft and an affiliate of local internet giant Kakao, for failing to protect personal information of their clients by negligence.

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said that the six entities were ordered to pay 84.4 million won (USD 75,700) in penalties -- penalty surcharges of 53.4 million won and administrative fines of 31 million won -- over leaks of their clients' personal information.