Harold Rogers, interim CEO of Coupang, submits his written oath after being sworn in as a witness at a parliamentary hearing held on December 31 by the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Coupang’s security breach and personal data leak, unfair trade practices, labor conditions, and measures to prevent a recurrence. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The interim head of Coupang Corp., the South Korean unit of U.S.-listed Coupang Inc., said Wednesday 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.
Responding to a question from Democratic Party’s Rep. Hwang Jung-a during a parliamentary hearing, Harold Rogers, the company’s interim chief executive officer (CEO), said the compensation would not be tied to a clause barring civil or criminal legal action.
“There are no conditions in those vouchers, and there will not be any conditions in those vouchers,” he said.
He also said the compensation plan would not be used as grounds to seek a reduction in potential damages should claims be filed in the future.
“In U.S. lawsuits, I don’t believe that would be (considered) a mitigating factor,” said Rogers, the former chief administrative officer (CAO) of Coupang Inc., referring to the compensation plan.
On Monday, the company announced a compensation plan worth 1.685 trillion won (US$1.17 billion), a day after Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk issued his first public apology since the massive data leak.
On Nov. 29, Coupang initially confirmed that the personal information of 33.7 million customer accounts had been exposed but later offered a sharply revised-down figure.
A Coupang logistics center in South Korea (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Last week, Coupang said it had identified a former employee responsible for the data leak through forensic analysis, recovered the equipment allegedly used in the hacking and obtained a confession from the suspect.
The company claimed that data from only about 3,000 accounts was actually saved and later deleted by the suspect.
Rogers reiterated the company’s claim that Coupang’s investigation into the former employee was conducted in cooperation with the Seoul government and was not a self-investigation.
The government, however, has dismissed Coupang’s findings as a “unilateral claim,” noting that a joint public-private investigation into the incident has yet to release its conclusions.
On Tuesday, Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon reaffirmed that the data breach affected more than 33 million customers in South Korea, saying Coupang showed “malicious intent” by unilaterally releasing its own assessment report that significantly downplayed the scale of the damage.
(Yonhap)
