Prime Minister Kim Minseok issued a stern warning to Coupang on December 10, following the leak of personal information belonging to 33.7 million members, stating, "We will conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident, and take strict action against any violations of the law."
Prime Minister Kim Minseok is speaking at the National Policy Coordination Meeting held at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on December 10, 2025. Photo by Yonhap News
Presiding over the 7th National Policy Coordination Meeting at the Government Complex Seoul that day, Prime Minister Kim said, "The Coupang issue has gone beyond a serious level," and added, "This is fundamentally an issue of basic ethics." He repeatedly stressed, "In a digital society, protecting citizens' information is the most fundamental responsibility of platform companies." Song Kyunghee, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission, also attended the meeting.
This Coupang personal information leak is unprecedented in scale, with virtually the entire adult population in South Korea affected. There are concerns about secondary damages such as account theft, financial loss, and spam or fraud resulting from the leak. In response, the Cyber Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency conducted a search and seizure at Coupang's headquarters the previous day. The police have identified a former Chinese employee responsible for developing Coupang's authentication system as a suspect, reportedly charging them with unauthorized intrusion into information and communications networks and leaking confidential information.
Prime Minister Kim also stated, "We will thoroughly prepare for institutional improvements to prevent recurrence."
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