Newscasts - Coupang CEO faces legal action for skipping data breach hearing

Coupang

17/12/2025 12:13

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Source: 'Reuters - Business videos'

Description: The billionaire founder of South Korea's Coupang failed to appear before a Wednesday parliamentary hearing in Seoul about the e-commerce giant's recent data breach, angering lawmakers who said they would take legal action. Francis Maguire reports.

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Video Transcript:

South Korean lawmakers have threatened legal action against the billionaire founder of Coupang. Company CEO and Chair Bom Kim declined to attend a parliamentary hearing in Seoul Wednesday. He cited his overseas residence and commitments as head of a global company. His absence upset lawmakers who wanted to talk about Coupang's recent data breach, South Korean lawmaker Choi Hyung-du.

Chairman Bom Kim's claim that he cannot attend because he is traveling abroad and is a global CEO is, in my view, an act that truly mocks the public and delivers despair to global investors.

Lawmakers accused Kim of breaking a law that compels witnesses to attend hearings and make themselves available for investigations. The interim CEO of the company's South Korean unit, Harold Rogers, stood in for Kim during the session. The personal data of more than 33 million Coupang customers was leaked in a breach this year. The hack is believed to have started in June through overseas servers, but the company didn't learn of the problem until mid-November.

I am the decision maker in Korea.

Rogers argued the breach didn't count as a material breach under US SEC rules. He argued that's because the information leaked wasn't considered highly sensitive and also wouldn't violate US privacy law. The data included customers' names, home and e-mail addresses, phone numbers, as well as their purchase history.