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Coupang hearing only fueled public anger. Accountability must follow.

Published: 19 Dec. 2025, 00:00

Harold Rogers, interim CEO of Coupang, responds to lawmakers’ questions as an interpreter translates during a hearing on the company’s data breach at the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee in Yeouido, Seoul, on Dec. 17. [NEWS1]

The government is stepping up its response to the massive data breach involving Coupang. On Dec. 18, authorities announced the formation of a pan-government task force bringing together the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Personal Information Protection Commission and the police to jointly investigate the incident. The task force will also discuss measures to protect users and strengthen Coupang’s accountability. At a National Assembly hearing the previous day, lawmakers even raised the possibility of suspending Coupang’s operations. Alongside discussions of sanctions, finding ways to ease Coupang’s dominance across the retail industry has become an urgent task.

At the heart of the controversy is Coupang’s attitude. Despite an unprecedented leak of personal data affecting some 34 million users, the company has remained dismissive. Bom Kim (Kim Beom-seok), Coupang’s chair, refused to appear before the National Assembly, citing scheduling difficulties as the head of a global company. In his place, newly appointed CEO Harold Rogers attended the hearing. He struggled to respond to questions due to language barriers and trivialized the proceedings by saying the only Korean word he knew was “mother-in-law.” The hearing did little more than inflame public anger.

Such an approach would not have worked in the United States. When companies face serious social controversies, it is standard practice for top executives to appear before Congress and explain themselves. Mark Zuckerberg did so after Facebook’s data breach. Jeff Bezos did not evade hearings involving Amazon. When Toyota faced a massive recall in 2010, then-CEO Akio Toyoda personally apologized and pledged corrective action.

Rogers’ remark that “this type of data leak does not violate U.S. law” was especially troubling, reflecting a failure to grasp the gravity of the situation. If this attitude persists, the government should impose strict accountability using every applicable legal framework, including the Information and Communications Network Act and the Personal Information Protection Act. This is not the first controversy surrounding Coupang. In October 2020, a worker in his 20s died of a heart attack at a Coupang logistics center, prompting allegations that the company sought to conceal or downplay harsh working conditions. The case escalated into legal disputes. Recently disclosed internal messenger chats have further fueled criticism by suggesting deceptive responses by Kim at the time.

Bom Kim, founder and chair of Coupang. [COUPANG]

Coupang’s arrogance stems from its dominant position in the retail market. Government regulations such as restrictions on holiday operations weakened domestic retailers, inadvertently strengthening the market power of Coupang, a U.S.-based company. It is time to pursue institutional solutions to curb the harms of monopoly, including revising the Distribution Industry Development Act. Only when consumers can enjoy genuine freedom of choice without relying on a single platform can abuses by dominant firms be checked. The system must make clear that companies that lose public trust have no place in the market.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.