Harold Rogers, Coupang's acting chief executive, on the 30th repeated the company's position that its "self-investigation" into a personal data leak was "in line with government instructions." He then pointed to the National Intelligence Service as the government body that ordered the probe. The government dismissed Coupang's claim, saying it "never gave such an order."

Harold Rogers, Coupang's acting CEO, answers questions from lawmakers at a joint hearing on the Coupang breach held by the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 30th. /Courtesy of News1

At a joint National Assembly hearing on Coupang that day, Acting CEO Rogers, responding to a question from Hwang Jeong-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea asking "which government ministry ordered the investigation," said, "My understanding is that the agency acknowledged it publicly," and answered, "the National Intelligence Service."

Rogers added, "That agency said we should cooperate," and "under Korean law, we viewed the business request as binding and understood that we had to follow the agency's instructions."

Rogers said, "That agency (National Intelligence Service (NIS)) told us to contact the suspect," and "we did not want to contact the suspect, but they asked us several times to contact the suspect," adding, "we refused, but then learned we had to accept the request under the law. So we reached out to the suspect."

In response, Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, countered, "In the process of bringing the evidence into the country, the NIS assisted because the evidence must not be damaged or lost due to Coupang's mistakes."

He went on, "The analysis results should be announced after hearing the findings of the public-private joint investigation team, the Personal Information Protection Commission, and the Korean National Police Agency," adding, "after hearing those results in full, Coupang should announce its findings together. They did something first that should not have been announced first."

Ryu Je-myeong, second vice minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Coupang says it conducted an internal investigation under orders from a government agency, but I want to make it clear that, after confirming the government's official position through a pan-government task force (TF), no government agency has ever ordered or intervened in Coupang's internal investigation."

He also stressed, "The only bodies Coupang must cooperate with are the Korean National Police Agency, which is conducting the investigation, the public-private joint investigation team, and the Personal Information Protection Commission's investigative team."

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