Deputy Prime Minister Paek Kyunghoon Reaffirms "Coupang Personal Data Leak Exceeds 33 Million Records"

Appeared at National Assembly Coupang Hearing on the 30th
Responded, "There were no instructions from the government"

Photo by Baek Jongmin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT

Paek Kyunghoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, reaffirmed on December 30 that the scope of Coupang's personal information leak exceeded 33 million records.

Deputy Prime Minister Paek made this statement in response to questions from Kim Youngbae, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, during a National Assembly hearing held to investigate Coupang's security breach, personal data leak, unfair trade practices, working conditions, and to discuss measures for preventing recurrence. He refuted Coupang's claims during the session.

Coupang had previously announced that, based on its own internal investigation of the former employee accused of leaking information, only 3,000 accounts were confirmed to have been affected, and that the remaining data had been deleted.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Paek stated, "I cannot agree with that," and added, "More than 33 million names and email addresses were leaked, and this fact was confirmed by the Personal Information Protection Commission, the National Police Agency, and a joint public-private investigation team."

He further stated, "Additionally, we believe that delivery addresses and order details were also leaked," and expressed serious concern that "Coupang announced these unconfirmed results in advance without consensus."

When Assemblyman Kim asked, "Coupang reported that only 3,000 accounts were leaked, claiming this was based on direct cooperation with instructions from the Korean government. Isn't this a false report?" Deputy Prime Minister Paek responded, "There were no instructions from the government."