Coupang's Surprise Announcement Puts Government Probe of Data Leak to the Test

Coupang Incident Task Force Upgraded to Vice Prime Minister Leadership
Ministry of Science and ICT: "System Overhaul for Fundamental Solutions"
Skepticism Over Coupang's Announcement... Hearings Scheduled for the 30th and 31st

Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyunghoon is taking the lead in the investigation into Coupang's massive personal information leak incident. The government is responding after Coupang made a surprise announcement of its own investigation results without confirmation from the joint public-private investigation team.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 26th, the pan-government task force (TF) on Coupang's personal information leak, previously led by Second Vice Minister Ryu Jemyung, will be expanded and operated under the leadership of the Vice Prime Minister for Science and ICT, with efforts to accelerate the joint public-private investigation. The seriousness of the situation was reiterated as a ministerial-level meeting was held at the presidential office despite the previous day being a holiday, and the government also expressed regret over being bypassed in the process.

The Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "We will conduct a thorough investigation and response to the personal information leak incident at platform companies," adding, "We will also diligently prepare fundamental institutional improvements to prevent information leaks and consumer damages at platform companies and similar entities."

Regarding Coupang's previously announced internal investigation results, the ministry strongly protested, saying, "Coupang unilaterally disclosed matters that are still under investigation by the joint public-private investigation team." The ministry further clarified, "The investigation team is closely examining the types and scope of the leak, as well as the circumstances of the incident," and emphasized, "Coupang's claims have not been verified."

The government plans to proceed with greater caution in its investigation while also strengthening the social responsibility of online platforms. With the announcement of the KT investigation results on unauthorized small payments and hacking incidents from early September imminent, and following the recent large-scale personal information leak at Asiana Airlines, a Ministry of Science and ICT official stated, "We will overhaul the system to establish fundamental countermeasures," adding, "While announcing results quickly is important, we are placing greater emphasis on accuracy."

The Personal Information Protection Commission is focusing on introducing punitive fines of up to 10% of sales for repeated and serious data leak incidents. Kim Jongcheol, Chairman of the Broadcasting, Media, and Communications Committee, emphasized, "Companies must pursue profits within a constitutionally fair order," and added, "The prerequisite for this is fulfilling their social responsibilities."

According to Coupang's own investigation results announced the previous day regarding this personal information leak, the former employee responsible for the leak used stolen security keys to access basic customer information for 33 million customer accounts, but only stored customer information (name, email, phone number, address, and some order information) for about 3,000 accounts. Of these, 2,609 included shared entrance access codes. The leaker stated that after seeing media reports about the incident, all stored information was deleted and that no customer data was ever transmitted to any third party.

In relation to this, Coupang highlighted that from the early stages of the incident, it had engaged three of the world's top global cybersecurity firms-Mandiant, Palo Alto Networks, and Ernst & Young-to conduct investigations, and has been submitting relevant materials to the government as soon as they were secured. This is interpreted as meaning that Coupang made a preemptive announcement to the public because the government did not disclose these facts even after being briefed on the investigation results.

Some critics argue that Coupang's announcement is an attempt to frame the incident as "the misconduct of an individual employee," minimize the scale of the damage, and thereby reduce its management and oversight responsibility. Kwon Heonyoung, a professor at Korea University's Graduate School of Information Security, pointed out, "The emphasis on identifying the perpetrator, the absence of secondary damage, and the recovery of all information is likely to serve as a favorable argument for the company in future regulatory or U.S. legal proceedings," adding, "At present, it can only be seen as a response aimed at reducing responsibility."

Coupang's apparent lack of accountability in this incident has also sparked public outrage. Bom Kim, Chairman of Coupang Inc and the company's founder, has not issued any apology or explanation regarding the incident, despite mounting anger from the government, political circles, Coupang employees, and consumers, and has repeatedly refused requests to appear before the National Assembly.

Harold Rogers, the new CEO of Coupang, appeared at the hearing on Coupang's breach incident held on the 17th at the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, responding to lawmakers' questions. 2025.12.17 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

The fact that messages criticizing the Korean National Assembly's regulatory moves are being spread in the United States is also fueling criticism. Robert O'Brien, who served as National Security Advisor during the first Trump administration, recently posted on his social media, "It would be very unfortunate if Korea undermines its efforts by targeting U.S. tech companies," thereby criticizing the regulatory actions surrounding Coupang.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly plans to hold a large-scale joint hearing on the 30th and 31st, involving six standing committees: the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee; the Political Affairs Committee; the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee; the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee; the Planning and Finance Committee; and the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. At this hearing, it is expected that the responsibilities of Chairman Kim and other executives, lobbying activities involving U.S. political and government figures, and Coupang's personal information management system will be scrutinized.

In political circles, there have also been calls to foster domestic distribution companies as alternatives to Coupang. Park Junghoon, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, posted on his social media the previous day, "Coupang has poured trillions of won into dominating the distribution network and has covered up risks through lobbying by changing its government relations team whenever the administration changes," adding, "We must develop domestic companies such as Emart, Gmarket, and Lotte Mart as alternatives in order to have the strength to counter their abuses."