Coupang is focused on downplaying the fallout from the leak of 33.7 million pieces of consumer personal information. In the retail industry, some noted that a response along the lines of "as long as there is no legal problem" is making the problem worse.
According to related industries on the 4th, the apology related to the personal information leak on the Coupang app disappeared three days after it was posted. It has been replaced by a Christmas discount ad. On the personal information leak, Coupang is communicating entirely based on its own "guidelines." The guidelines avoid all expressions that could raise legal issues.
In fact, from Park Dae-jun, the head of Coupang who appeared at the National Assembly on the 2nd and 3rd, to Coupang call center staff, the answers were the same. In policy inquiries at the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee and the State Affairs Committee, Park repeatedly answered, whenever the prime suspect in the consumer personal information leak was mentioned, "It is difficult to say because it is currently under investigation." Coupang call center staff are giving the same response. To consumers asking questions related to the personal information leak, the subcontractor only answers, "It is difficult to say because it is currently under investigation." It is according to the guidelines handed down by Coupang.
A parliamentary aide who watched the State Affairs Committee policy inquiry on the 3rd said, "The head and the call center staff give the same answer, so I don't know why they are even sitting in the National Assembly. In this day and age, wouldn't a chatbot be enough?"
There is also a Coupang-style way of speaking that evades responsibility by laying out preconditions. In response to questions from ruling and opposition lawmakers, Park consistently prefaced his answers with "as far as I know so far" or answered to the effect of "as of now, that is what we understand."
Park used a similar manner of speaking on compensation. In the State Affairs Committee policy inquiry the previous day, when People Power Party lawmaker Kang Myeong-gu asked, "Will you compensate everyone?" Park answered, "We will actively review compensation for victims. We will review reasonable compensation measures." However, on the specific compensation plan and timing, he said, "The scope of damage has not yet been finalized, and it is still under investigation."
When Yoon Han-hong, the committee chair (People Power Party), asked what "reasonable compensation measures" meant, Park said, "We will actively review [compensation] for victims." But when Yoon asked about the "scope" of victims, he could not answer. Some interpreted this to mean he answered abstractly to leave a legal loophole. It effectively leaves room to say compensation was not provided because there was no way despite a review, and if the scope of victims is limited to those who suffered economic losses due to the personal information leak, the actual scope of compensation would not be broad.
The retail industry views Coupang's evasion in this manner as stemming from a corporate culture of "it is fine as long as there is no legal problem." Coupang's legal organization is large. It is staffed with a wide range of former lawyers from Kim & Chang, Shin & Kim LLC, Bae, Kim & Lee, BKL, Lee & Ko, and Yulchon. They do not work only within the legal department but play important roles in each business unit.
A former Coupang executive said, "Everything that happens at Coupang proceeds after legal review. If there is even a small legal issue with a counterpart in conflict, they blanket them with lawsuits and tie their hands." The person added, "If there are potential legal issues with a project being pursued, they first create an escape hatch and then proceed."
Some point to Coupang's bloated government relations and public relations staff. But according to multiple former and current Coupang executives, those teams are merely pieces that move according to the big picture drawn up by the legal staff. Because they act according to directions from legal, communication can only be one-way, and like call center staff, they can end up repeating the same words like parrots.
A former Coupang executive said, "When problems arise, we played the role of smoothing the atmosphere with the track record and personal networks we had built up. It was effectively the depletion of personal assets, and we endured only because they said they would pay salaries during that period," adding, "Now that I have left Coupang, I have lost many personal relationships I had built up."
In business circles, there are varied assessments of Coupang's course. A business insider said, "It operates in the Korean market targeting Korean consumers and hiring Korean workers, but when it is time to take responsibility, it says it is a 'U.S. company,'" adding, "They say it is legally so, but there is no consideration for Korean consumers or Korean sellers. It is a corporate culture that is hard to sustain in the long term." Another insider said, "Some 20 to 30 years ago, the legal department within Samsung Group wielded enormous power and the judgment that 'there is no legal problem' trumped everything," adding, "As a result, Samsung once could not escape judicial risks. Recently, Coupang is adhering to the law in a way even more regressive than in those days."