Coupang Vice President Lee Jaegul Says "NIS Instructed Us to Contact the Suspect"

Coupang Joint Hearing Held on the 31st
Questioned on Whether NIS Instructed Contact with Suspect
Vice President Lee Jaegul: "There Was an NIS Request"
Admits "Timing and Method of Disclosing Investigation Results Were Decided Independently"

Lee Jaegul, Vice President of Legal Affairs at Coupang, stated regarding the controversy over the company's "self-investigation" into the leak of information on 33.7 million customers, "The National Intelligence Service (NIS) instructed us to contact the suspect."

At the Coupang joint hearing held on December 31, Lee made this statement in response to a question from Choi Minhee, Chairperson of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, who asked, "Did the NIS instruct Coupang to contact the suspect?"

He continued, "On December 2, we received an official document from the NIS, and we were informed that, since the matter was related to national security, we had a legal obligation to comply. In early December, we were further contacted by the NIS, who suggested that it would be good to reach out to the suspect, and we understood this as a request from the NIS."

Yonhap News Agency

When Chairperson Choi asked again, "Did the NIS unilaterally instruct you to contact the suspect?" Lee replied, "The NIS often expresses things ambiguously, but that is how we understood it. There was such a request."

Regarding whether the NIS instructed Coupang to conduct forensics on items the company had retrieved itself, Lee said, "We asked the NIS what would be best to do when the devices were recovered, and they told us that after the devices were retrieved, we could proceed as we saw fit. They indicated that they would allow that."

On the process of selecting a forensic firm, he explained, "There were discussions with the NIS and several firms, and both Coupang's and the NIS's suggested firms were reviewed together. After various discussions, a final decision was made."

However, Lee drew a line regarding the scope of the NIS's involvement in the investigation. He stated, "During the 'imaging copy' process, where data is copied from the devices in the course of forensics, NIS officials were not present. The report stating that approximately 3,000 pieces of stored information were subsequently deleted was prepared independently by Coupang."

Regarding the investigation of the suspect, he added, "The NIS was in a situation where they could not meet the suspect directly, so they once requested that a Coupang employee meet the suspect on their behalf, but the NIS did not conduct the questioning themselves."

When Chairperson Choi asked, "Was the timing and method of releasing the investigation results determined solely by Coupang?" Lee replied, "We had sufficient discussions with the NIS regarding the suspect's statements, which formed the basis of the findings."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.