Seoul: The interim head of Coupang Corp., the South Korean unit of U.S.-listed Coupang Inc., announced that the company's compensation plan for a recent data breach will not include any conditions requiring customers to waive their right to file lawsuits against the e-commerce giant.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Harold Rogers, the interim chief executive officer (CEO) of Coupang, clarified during a parliamentary hearing that the compensation offered would not be tied to any clause preventing civil or criminal legal action. This statement was made in response to a question from Democratic Party's Rep. Hwang Jung-a. Rogers further emphasized that the compensation plan would not be used to seek a reduction in potential damages should claims be filed in the future.

Earlier this week, Coupang revealed a compensation plan valued at 1.685 trillion won (US$1.17 billion), following an apology from Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk concerning the massive data leak. Initially, on November 29, Coupang confirmed that personal information from 33.7 million customer accounts had been exposed. However, this figure was later revised significantly downward.

Last week, Coupang identified a former employee responsible for the data leak through forensic analysis, recovered the equipment allegedly used, and obtained a confession from the suspect. The company stated that data from only about 3,000 accounts was saved and subsequently deleted by the suspect.

Despite Coupang's claims, the government dismissed these findings as a "unilateral claim," highlighting that a joint public-private investigation into the incident has not yet released its conclusions. On Tuesday, Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon confirmed that the data breach had indeed affected more than 33 million customers in South Korea. He accused Coupang of showing "malicious intent" by releasing an assessment report that significantly downplayed the scale of the damage.