Photo: Harold Rogers at the National Assembly hearing. Credit: Yonhap News.
In December, South Korea’s leading online retailer suffered a massive data breach that leaked the personal information of more than 33.7m customers, or practically every adult South Korean. (See previous coverage, “Coupang Data Leak.”) The company’s tone-deaf handling of its response to the crisis has only provoked further public backlash and government response.
On December 26, 2025, Coupang produced a laptop, allegedly discovered in a ditch in China, that it claimed was used to breach its data. Based on evidence that it allegedly collected from the laptop, Coupang claimed that only 3k customers had actually had their personal data breached. Coupang claimed to have recovered the laptop following instructions from the National Intelligence Service 국가정보원, which denied having given any such directions.
Meanwhile, Coupang’s founder Kim Beom-su 김범수 continued to refuse to appear before a National Assembly 국회 hearing on December 30 and 31, instead sending Harold Rogers, general counsel and acting chief executive, in his stead. This succeeded only in inspiring public backlash and a boycott over what was seen as an attempt by Kim to trot out a non-Korean speaking crony to plead ignorance.
