As Coupang released a plan on the 29th to compensate for a personal information leak affecting 33.7 million people by giving each person a purchase voucher worth 50,000 won, criticism is growing that the sincerity is lacking because most of the compensation is concentrated in "Coupang Travel," a specialty shop for travel products, and "R.LUX," a luxury specialty shop, which are far from Coupang's core business of fast delivery. Some consumers who saw the plan also criticized it, saying, "Isn't this effectively aimed at advertising the services?"
Coupang said that it feels a strong sense of responsibility for the data breach and will implement a customer compensation plan worth 1.685 trillion won to restore customer trust. For the 33.7 million customer accounts that received a data leak notice at the end of Nov., the company plans to provide, starting Jan. 15 next year, four one-time purchase vouchers totaling 50,000 won per person.
The compensation plan Coupang released consists of vouchers for all products on Coupang, including Rocket Delivery, Rocket Direct Purchase, Seller Rocket, and Marketplace (5,000 won), Coupang Eats (5,000 won), Coupang Travel products (20,000 won), and R.LUX products (20,000 won). The compensation amount for Coupang and Coupang Eats, which customers actually use the most, is only 10,000 won, while the remaining 40,000 won is allocated to separate services of Coupang.
Coupang Travel is a travel specialty shop service that bundles and sells travel products such as accommodations (hotels, resorts, pensions/camping), domestic and overseas packages, flight tickets/airtel, tickets, passes, local tours, and rental cars. It expanded into overseas travel in 2022.
R.LUX is a vertical service operated by Coupang that focuses on luxury beauty. A portmanteau of Rocket and Luxury, it means offering an unprecedented shopping experience by adding a differentiated rocket service to the prestige of luxury beauty brands. R.LUX launched in Oct. last year and operates a dedicated standalone app.
Consumers who saw the plan are voicing criticism about the size and content of the compensation. One X (formerly Twitter) user said, "Coupang Travel and R.LUX are just for show, and the actual compensation is only 5,000 won." Another user wrote, "If you break down the plan, the real compensation is 10,000 won, and the rest are promotional coupons."
Some also say the compensation amount itself is too small. In past similar data leak cases, courts set damages at 100,000 won per person. In a 2014 case involving the leak of more than 100 million items of 20 types of personal information, including customer names, resident registration numbers, and card numbers, at KB Kookmin, NH Nonghyup, and Lotte Card, the court ordered up to 100,000 won per person.
Subsequent cases—the 2016 Interpark and the 2024 Modetour Network data leaks—also resulted in rulings of 100,000 won per person. In Apr. this year, the Consumer Dispute Settlement Commission recommended that SK Telecom compensate 100,000 won per person over its data leak.
However, some say Coupang's plan is the best it could do. According to Coupang's own investigation released by the company, the actual number of leaked customer account records was around 3,000, and even those were not leaked externally to third parties. Still, considering consumer anxiety, it set compensation for more than 33 million people.
Coupang released its compensation plan ahead of a joint hearing that begins on the 30th. Ahead of the hearing, Coupang Chair Bom Kim also released an apology. The statement included points that the initial response was insufficient and that the company conducted an investigation in cooperation with the government. It did not mention whether he would attend the hearing, and he submitted a written statement explaining his absence to the National Assembly, saying scheduled commitments would make it difficult to attend.