Rogers, Coupang’s Second-in-Command, Appointed as New CEO... To Attend Hearing on the 17th (Comprehensive Update 2)

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Park Daejun, CEO of Coupang, has abruptly resigned, taking responsibility for the personal information leak incident that affected as many as 33.7 million people. Harold Rogers, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and General Counsel of Coupang Inc., has been appointed as the acting CEO to handle the current situation. Acting CEO Rogers is scheduled to appear at a hearing held by the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee on December 17.

Harold Rogers, newly appointed CEO of Coupang Inc. Photo by Coupang

On December 10, Park announced his resignation as CEO of Coupang, stating, "I deeply regret disappointing the public with this personal information incident," and added, "I feel a strong sense of responsibility for both the occurrence of the incident and the handling process, so I have decided to step down from all my positions."

The newly appointed CEO, Rogers, is known as a close confidant of Bom Kim, Chairman and founder of Coupang Inc. A Harvard Law School graduate and an expert in compliance and risk management, Rogers played a key role in ensuring Coupang met the stringent disclosure and regulatory requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2021.

This is the first time since Coupang's founding that an executive from its U.S. headquarters has been appointed as CEO of the Korean subsidiary. By placing Rogers, effectively the company's "second-in-command," at the forefront in place of Chairman Kim, observers interpret this as a sign that the U.S. headquarters is taking the incident very seriously and is directly intervening to resolve it.

In an internal announcement on the same day, CEO Rogers sent a message to employees, saying, "I fully understand that many of you feel anxious about this situation," and emphasized, "Our top priorities now are to respond thoroughly to this incident, strengthen information security to prevent recurrence, and restore trust." He added, "We will also focus on supporting all teams as we stabilize the organization and move forward."

Previously, the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee decided on December 9 to hold a hearing and summon Chairman Kim, former CEO Park, former CEO Kang Hanseung, Chief Information Security Officer Brett Mathis, Executive Vice President for External Affairs Min Byungki, and Executive Vice President for National Assembly and Government Affairs Cho Yongwoo as witnesses. While Chairman Kim's attendance remains uncertain, the new CEO Rogers is expected to attend the hearing. A Coupang representative stated, "As we have pledged to actively address customer concerns and resolve the crisis, the new CEO Rogers will attend the hearing."