Seoul: E-commerce giant Coupang Inc. announced the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Park Dae-jun following a significant customer data leak impacting nearly 34 million users. Park expressed his remorse, stating, "I deeply apologize for disappointing the public over the recent data breach, and have decided to step down from all my positions to take full responsibility for both the incident and the company's response."

According to Yonhap News Agency, Coupang's U.S.-based parent company has appointed Harold Rogers, its Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and General Counsel, as interim CEO. Rogers is tasked with leading the company's response efforts and addressing customer concerns. The company emphasized its commitment to managing the incident's fallout and restoring organizational stability, highlighting that the parent firm will actively handle the aftermath of the data leak.

The U.S.-listed company issued another apology for the massive data leak, pledging to enhance information security measures and do everything possible to prevent a recurrence while working to rebuild customer trust. On November 29, Coupang confirmed that personal information from 33.7 million customer accounts had been exposed, a sharp increase from the 4,500 accounts initially reported to authorities on November 20. The number of affected users represents nearly two-thirds of the country's population.

With Coupang's Product Commerce division, including its delivery service, having 24.7 million active users in the third quarter, the scale of the leak suggests a significant portion of the user base may have been affected. The updated figures reveal that users' personal information, such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, and delivery addresses, was compromised. However, the company assured that payment details and login credentials were not impacted.

On Monday, the presidential office demanded that Coupang provide answers on its plans to compensate affected consumers. Meanwhile, police conducted a raid on Coupang's Seoul headquarters for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, stating the operation was essential for a comprehensive investigation based on collected evidence. Coupang, currently facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States, disclosed that the leak occurred through its overseas servers starting June 24, with the company becoming aware of the incident last month.