Seoul Accuses E-Commerce Giant of ‘Self-Investigation,’ Impeding Government Probe
Attempts by South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang to get ahead of a reputation-damaging data breach, apparently instigated by a rogue former employee who fled to China, are not going well.
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In the weeks since the Korean peninsula’s largest online retailer in late November warned current and former customers that a months-long incident led to the exposure of personal data pertaining to 33.7 million individuals, Coupang has managed to provoke a rebuke from government regulators, earn the ire of consumer advocates and draw sharp questions from Seoul lawmakers. The breach swept up names, addresses, emails and phone numbers. In a country of 52 million people, the breach affected nearly every adult.
The metastasizing incident has even caught the attention of U.S. politicians in backlash to the backlash, with two Republicans accusing the South Korean government of unfairly targeting Coupang, which has its headquarters in Seattle.
Multiple task forces, including a probe led by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency are now investigating the company. South Korean police additionally issued an Interpol red notice seeking the extradition of the main breach suspect, a Chinese national, local news outlets reported.
The company, which has promised full cooperation with police, last month said it identified the suspect and met with him in China. The company said it recovered the former employee’s MacBook Air and received his assurance that he deleted all stolen data.
Authorities are unimpressed. The country’s data protection watchdog this week told Coupang to stop publishing “self-investigation” findings, in part because they were being inaccurately described as being reached in conjunction with the government, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.
The watchdog said the company’s statements have not been verified by the government – as the company stated – and risk disrupting its investigation and digital forensic analysis of seized devices. Coupang has said the suspect had smashed the laptop, shoved it into a canvass bag weighed down by bricks, and threw the bundle into a river in a bid to destroy evidence. The state agency accused the company of failing to produce the requested evidence in a timely manner and threatened the company with obstruction charges.
Publicly traded Coupang, founded in South Korea in 2010 but incorporated in Delaware, operated by executives in Washington state and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, ranks as one of the world’s 150 largest companies, based on revenue. Often described as the Amazon.com of South Korea, it also runs a popular Rocket Fast delivery service. Last September, it counted 24.7 million active customers, up 10% year on year.
The breach led to the resignation of CEO Park Dae-jun last month.
South Korean lawmakers requested that founder and chairman Bom Kim, a U.S. citizen, appear to testify about the company’s oversight practices and breach response in mid-December 2025 hearings. Instead, interim CEO Harold Rogers, an attorney who serves as general counsel and chief administrative officer at the corporate parent entity, appeared. He faced sharp questioning from lawmakers and criticism over the chairman’s absence.
Just ahead of two days of further parliamentary hearings, on Dec. 29, 2025, Coupang issued a statement strongly criticizing criticism of its breach response, asserting it was hampered by government restrictions.
Rogers may not have enjoyed the experience of being questioned, since South Korean cyber police on Tuesday reported that Rogers failed to comply with a police summons issued on Jan. 1 to appear on Jan. 5, having left the country on Dec. 31, 2025, reported The Korea Times.
Police are probing if Rogers lied to lawmakers, it said. He faces potential obstruction charges and the company could face a massive fine over its cybersecurity posture and breach response.
Coupang described Rogers’ departure as a prescheduled business trip. “There is no intention to flee. We have clearly communicated our willingness to cooperate with the investigation and appear before the police, and are currently coordinating the schedule,” the company said in a statement.
If he returns, government officials told South Korean news agency Yonhap they’re considering implementing a departure ban for Rogers until they’re done questioning him.
The South Korean response hasn’t sat well with Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., chair of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade. During a Tuesday hearing, he decried South Korean regulators who “already seem to be aggressively targeting U.S. technology leaders,” citing Coupang as an example.
At the same hearing, Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., accused South Korea of engaging in “a political witch hunt against two American executives,” in apparent reference to Chairman Bom Kim as well as Rogers.
An official from a South Korean trade union described the remarks as being “a clear violation of sovereignty and interference in domestic affairs.”
Company efforts to woo back customers also haven’t been an unadulterated success. It announced a plan “to restore customer trust” by offering compensation worth $34 to each affected individual. The plan immediately attracted criticism for only offering compensation in the form of vouchers for four different Coupang services. Two of the vouchers, each worth $14, are for its travel site and high-end beauty products site, where consumers would have to pay much more to be able to buy anything.
Criticism of the measure included consumer rights groups calling on Coupang to offer cash to breach victims, not coupons. A group of over 100 consumer groups continues to criticize the voucher program as relying “on deception and gimmicks from issuance to use.”
The vouchers, which went live on Thursday and remain valid for three months, have drawn fresh criticism for amounting to a sales tactic, reported Yonhap.
“Customers who have closed their Coupang accounts are required to re-register as members to receive the compensation,” a company spokesperson told the news service.