Seoul: The government is intensifying its efforts to address the massive data breach involving Coupang. On Dec. 18, authorities announced the establishment of a comprehensive task force that unites the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Personal Information Protection Commission, and the police to jointly investigate the incident. This task force aims to protect users and enhance Coupang's accountability. At a National Assembly hearing held the previous day, lawmakers even considered the possibility of suspending Coupang's operations. Discussions have also begun on finding ways to mitigate Coupang's dominance in the retail industry, highlighting the urgency of the matter.
According to Yonhap News Agency, at the center of the controversy is Coupang's dismissive attitude. Despite an unprecedented leak of personal data affecting approximately 34 million users, the company has shown little concern. Bom Kim (Kim Beom-seok), Coupang's chair, declined to appear before the National Assembly due to scheduling conflicts as the leader of a global company. Instead, newly appointed CEO Harold Rogers attended the hearing but struggled to address questions due to language barriers, trivializing the proceedings by stating that the only Korean word he knew was "mother-in-law." This approach only served to fuel public outrage.
Such behavior would be unacceptable in the United States, where it is standard for top executives to appear before Congress during serious social controversies. Mark Zuckerberg did so following Facebook's data breach, and Jeff Bezos did not avoid hearings involving Amazon. When Toyota faced a massive recall in 2010, then-CEO Akio Toyoda personally apologized and committed to corrective measures.
Rogers' comment that "this type of data leak does not violate U.S. law" was particularly concerning, demonstrating a lack of understanding of the situation's seriousness. If this attitude continues, the government should enforce strict accountability using all applicable legal measures, including the Information and Communications Network Act and the Personal Information Protection Act. This is not the first time Coupang has faced controversy. In October 2020, a worker in his 20s died of a heart attack at a Coupang logistics center, leading to allegations of the company attempting to conceal or minimize harsh working conditions. The case escalated into legal disputes, and recently disclosed internal messenger chats have intensified criticism, suggesting deceptive responses by Kim at the time.
Coupang's arrogance is rooted in its dominant position in the retail market. Government regulations, such as restrictions on holiday operations, have weakened domestic retailers, inadvertently boosting Coupang's market power as a U.S.-based company. It is time to explore institutional solutions to address the harms of monopoly, including revising the Distribution Industry Development Act. Only when consumers can truly exercise freedom of choice without dependence on a single platform can abuses by dominant firms be curtailed. The system must clearly convey that companies losing public trust have no place in the market.