"50,000 Won for All Members" Criticized as "A Publicity Stunt to Quell Public Opinion"
Compensation Denounced as "An Evasion of Responsibility, Not True Relief for Victims"
As Coupang proposed a compensation plan for the recent personal information leak, offering 50,000 won in purchase credits to all members-a total amounting to 1.685 trillion won-consumer organizations have strongly objected, stating, "We refuse to accept this, as it mocks consumers."
On December 29, the Korea Consumer Organizations Council issued a statement regarding Coupang's 50,000 won compensation plan for all members. The Council said, "We strongly criticize this as an attempt to downplay responsibility for a serious incident in which 33.7 million people's personal information was structurally accessible, and to turn it into a mere publicity event to quell public opinion, which undermines consumer rights."
The Council further pointed out, "Coupang has continually downplayed the damage by emphasizing that only about 3,000 accounts were actually stored. However, since the leaked information includes names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, and even shared entrance passwords-details directly tied to daily life and safety-the risk of secondary damage must be considered to have already arisen at the account 'access' stage. Limiting the scope to '3,000 victims' ignores both consumer anxiety and the actual risks involved."
The Council also stated, "Prioritizing broad compensation for 'all members' over sufficient and substantive redress for specifically identified victims is likely to be used as a preemptive measure to dilute legal responsibility in lawsuits and dispute mediation. This approach should be critically examined, especially in comparison to past major telecom and credit card data breaches, where compensation of 100,000 to 300,000 won per person has been recognized."
On this day, Coupang announced plans to sequentially provide compensation of 50,000 won per person to 33.7 million people-including Coupang Wow, regular, and withdrawn customers-starting January 15 of next year. The compensation will be provided in the form of discount coupons divided into four categories: 5,000 won for all Coupang products, 5,000 won for Coupang Eats, 20,000 won for Coupang Travel products, and 20,000 won for Alux products.
On online communities and elsewhere, people are expressing skepticism, saying, "So in the end, they’re not giving out 50,000 won in cash, but just discount coupons?" and "Except for Coupang, which I use often, I probably won’t use the other coupons at all." The prevailing sentiment is that these coupons simply encourage additional purchases within Coupang’s own business ecosystem.
The Council also criticized, "This compensation has been designed mainly as a consumption promotion benefit, turning it into a marketing tool to induce additional purchases and re-enrollment, rather than providing real compensation for the personal information breach." They added, "Such an approach, which aims to maintain and strengthen transactional relationships rather than restore damages, is repeating the pattern of 'coupon compensation events' seen in past major data breaches. It directly contradicts the principle of cash-based and direct compensation that corresponds to the violation of personal information self-determination rights and mental distress."
The Council further urged the government and National Assembly, "Do not settle for Coupang’s compensation proposal; instead, conduct a thorough investigation into the scale and circumstances of the leak, impose strong administrative sanctions, and promptly establish measures to prevent recurrence."
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