Regarding interim Coupang CEO Harold Rogers testifying on the 30th that he conducted an internal investigation into the personal data leak at the request of the National Intelligence Service, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) called it "clearly false" and asked the National Assembly to file a perjury complaint.
In a news release distributed that day, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said, "We asked the National Assembly's Coupang hearing, which has the authority to file complaints, to report the Coupang CEO (Harold Rogers) for perjury under Article 14, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly."
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said, "The claim by CEO Rogers that 'it was not investigated internally but was investigated according to the instructions and orders of the National Intelligence Service' is not true at all," adding, "Other than requesting materials, the National Intelligence Service has never issued any instructions, orders, or permissions to Coupang and is not in a position to do so."
Regarding Rogers' claim that the NIS directed Coupang to contact the person who leaked personal information, the agency said, "On the contrary, in response to Coupang's inquiry for an opinion on contacting the leaker, the National Intelligence Service repeatedly emphasized that 'the final decision should be made by Coupang.'"
Rogers, at a joint hearing on Coupang held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, that day, answered a question from Hwang Jeong-a of the Democratic Party of Korea about whether any government ministry directed the investigation into the personal data leak by saying, "I understand that the National Intelligence Service confirmed this publicly."
When Hwang asked again, "Did you communicate with the National Intelligence Service?" Rogers said, "(We) did not want to contact the suspect. On multiple occasions, that agency (the National Intelligence Service) asked us to contact the suspect."
Rogers also said, "We extracted a forensic image of the hard disk drive, and that was done at the direction of an intelligence agency." On this, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) explained, "Before the National Intelligence Service contacted Coupang (Dec. 17), Coupang had already duplicated an image copy on the 15th." The National Intelligence Service added that it did not know the image had been duplicated until it contacted Coupang.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) also said that Rogers' claim that a government agency holds a copy, the original was delivered to police, and a government agency allowed a separate copy to be made so that Coupang could keep a copy, is not true.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it "sternly warns Coupang that the CEO's false remarks are a grave matter that undermines trust in a state institution."