Police Name 'Former Chinese Employee' as Suspect in Coupang Search Warrant

Digital Evidence Secured at Coupang Headquarters Office

The police concluded a search and seizure operation at Coupang, which was at the center of a massive personal information leak, after 10 hours. The search warrant named a former employee of Chinese nationality as the suspect.

According to the police on December 9, the search and seizure warrant issued by the authorities specified the former employee as a suspect on charges including intrusion into information and communications networks and disclosure of secrets under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

On the afternoon of the 9th, police officers were seen carrying boxes out of the Coupang headquarters in Songpa-gu, where a search and seizure operation was underway. Photo by Yonhap News

This large-scale data breach has been attributed not to hacking but to the actions of a former Chinese employee, and the police have also identified the former employee of Chinese nationality as the suspect in the case.

He was reportedly a developer responsible for the authentication system at Coupang. Park Daejoon, CEO of Coupang, explained this during a National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee inquiry on December 2.

The police plan to comprehensively determine the route and cause of the personal information leak based on the materials secured through the search and seizure operation.

The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency conducted the search and seizure at Coupang's headquarters office in Songpa-gu from around 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., for approximately 10 hours on this day.

Seventeen people, including Chief Superintendent Lee Byungjin, head of the Cyber Investigation Unit and leader of the special investigation team for the Coupang personal information leak case, were deployed to the scene. They reportedly secured digital evidence to identify the individual responsible for the leak, as well as the route and cause of the information breach.