A delivery vehicle is parked at a Coupang logistics center in Seoul. According to the retail industry, reports have been mounting online of login attempts, smishing attacks, and other incidents following the “Coupang data leak” episode. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang is facing intensifying scrutiny after a major data leak revealed that significant portions of its Korean-language service were built and maintained by foreign developers, including sizable teams based in China. The primary suspect in the breach is a former Chinese employee who worked on the company’s authentication systems.
While acknowledging it hires “talent of various nationalities,” Coupang has declined to disclose the number or roles of foreign developers on its payroll, maintaining silence even as questions mount over its reliance on overseas engineering hubs.
A review of recruitment posts and employee discussions on Maimai — China’s equivalent of LinkedIn — shows that Coupang has actively hired Chinese developers for years, particularly in Beijing and Shanghai. Verified employees and industry recruiters continued posting job referrals and hiring notices as recently as this year.
One posting rated Coupang the eighth most attractive foreign tech employer in Shanghai, following Google, Amazon and Apple. The author, identifying himself as a senior vice president at a holdings group, described Coupang’s Shanghai office as offering salaries comparable to Alibaba’s, employing many former Alibaba workers, and operating without the grueling “996” work culture common in China’s tech sector.
Other developers praised Coupang for flexible hours, remote-work options, strong bonuses, relatively low competition, and generous benefits — factors that helped fuel a wave of recruitment posts in 2023.
A vehicle is parked near a Coupang logistics center in downtown Seoul. (Yonhap)
Coupang has also hired for Seoul-based engineering roles, though accounts on Maimai claimed that neither English nor Korean fluency was strictly required for many technical positions, except for roles tied directly to the Korea-based Coupang Eats unit.
Some posts suggested a high annual attrition rate inside the company. One self-described backend engineer wrote that “each year, roughly 10 percent of the lowest-ranked employees are let go,” adding that older engineers with thinner experience were more vulnerable.
A System Built in the Image of Alibaba and JD.com
Industry analysts say Coupang’s heavy recruitment of Chinese developers stems less from cost savings and more from the technical backbone of its business. Unlike Amazon’s marketplace-centered architecture, Coupang operates a vertically integrated e-commerce model similar to Alibaba’s or JD.com’s — purchasing goods directly, storing them in its own warehouses, and running an extensive logistics network.
That system, experts argue, aligns more naturally with the expertise of Chinese engineers who have worked on large-scale automation and warehouse optimization — capabilities China’s e-commerce giants mastered earlier and at larger scale than their Korean counterparts.
A Coupang logistics center in South Korea (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“Chinese developers have more experience with the kind of logistics automation that Coupang depends on,” said one South Korean IT industry official. “As the company expanded extremely rapidly, gaps may have emerged in how user data protections were designed or implemented.”
Security specialists warn that outsourcing large portions of development to teams in China carries heightened risks, given Beijing’s history of state-linked cyber activity. “Depending heavily on developers in a country known for aggressive cyber operations is, in effect, giving the cat the job of guarding the fish,” one cybersecurity expert said.
The incident has renewed debate in Seoul over how aggressively Korean digital platforms should rely on foreign engineering hubs — and whether the balance between rapid growth and data security has tilted too far.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
