At a hearing on the 17th by the National Assembly's Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee into Coupang's "personal information leak incident," the ruling and opposition parties clashed over a luncheon meeting between floor leader Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party of Korea and Coupang officials. The opposition said it "could be an important clue to Coupang's government relations lobbying" and urged a clear fact-finding. The ruling party countered that "the content of the conversation is unclear, so it cannot be concluded to be lobbying," calling it a political fight unrelated to the essence of the personal data leak incident.
At the hearing, opposition lawmakers raised the fact that the floor leader met former chief Park and others for a hotel restaurant lunch on Sept. 5, a little over a month before the audit, and suggested the luncheon could be tied to government relations work ahead of the audit.
Rep. Shin Sung-bum said, "There is a (report) that the floor leader met the head of a supervised agency and asked for personnel favors," urging clarification of the facts. Rep. Park Jeong-hoon also said, "Who paid for the (luncheon), who invited whom, and what conversations took place could be important clues to how Coupang lobbied (the National Assembly)," adding, "This must be clarified."
In response, the Democratic Party argued that the purpose of the hearing is to identify the cause of Coupang's personal information leak and review measures for victims, and pushed back that the luncheon controversy should not be turned into political strife. Choi Min-hee, chair of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the Democratic Party, said, "(The controversy over the Coupang luncheon) could be an attempt to protect witness Kim Beom-suk," adding, "Since we are holding a Coupang hearing now, we will check the facts (related) and report back." Ruling party secretary Rep. Kim Hyun said, "It is unclear whether the recording of the Coupang CEO and a company executive relayed the lunch conversation with the floor leader or what conversation content was conveyed. It is not right to conclude it was lobbying."
However, both the ruling and opposition parties, to ascertain the facts, urged Vice President Min Byung-gi, head of external cooperation who was present at the luncheon, to "submit the receipt detailing who paid the expense and the expense breakdown."
Min repeatedly answered, "I did not pay, so I do not know who did," and did not comply with the National Assembly's request to submit the receipt. Regarding the luncheon conversation, Min said, "There was a visit (by the floor leader) to the Seocho logistics center in July," adding, "The main topic was the results of checking the logistics center's cooling facilities. The audit schedule was in mid-September, so the audit issue was not prominent at the time of the luncheon."
On the attendees, Min answered, "Three people ate the meal, and two aides ate separately in the hall." According to CBS, about 700,000 won was paid for the lunch. The floor leader said "at least five people ate together," and if, as Min said, a total of five people ate, that would amount to up to 140,000 won per person. If Coupang paid the expense, it could raise questions of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (Kim Young-ran law), which limits meal costs for public officials to 50,000 won per person. The floor leader's position is that "I ordered pasta priced at 38,000 won."
Meanwhile, the People Power Party, to grasp Coupang's government relations work, asked to additionally summon as witnesses the floor leader and former National Assembly aides. Among Coupang's executives are former aides to Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae and the floor leader, and former aides to People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok and Rep. Kim Do-eup, according to reports. However, it fell through after prior agreement between the ruling and opposition party secretaries to summon only those "vice president level and above."