As a joint National Assembly hearing to address Coupang's large-scale personal data leak and issues such as unfair transaction and labor conditions was held for two days on the 30th and 31st, Coupang on the second day also stuck to its original position on the so-called "self-investigation" controversy, saying it "cooperated under the direction of the National Intelligence Service (NIS)."
Bae Kyung-hoon, Minister of Science and ICT and deputy prime minister, strongly criticized Coupang's self-investigation announcement as "highly intentional." The Korea Fair Trade Commission said that, depending on the results of the joint public-private investigation, a business suspension could be possible.
Earlier, on the 25th, Coupang released the results of its own investigation into the personal data leak. After investigating a former employee suspected of leaking the information, it said the leaker used a stolen security key to access basic customer information for 33 million customer accounts, actually saved only the customer information of about 3,000 accounts (name, email, phone number, address, some order information), and deleted all the saved information after seeing media reports about the incident.
The previous day, Coupang said at the hearing that all these procedures were conducted under the direction of the National Intelligence Service (NIS). However, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) countered, saying, "Aside from requesting materials, we have never given any instructions, orders, or approvals to Coupang, nor are we in a position to do so," and asked that "the Coupang CEO be referred for perjury under Article 14, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Testimony and Appraisal, etc. before the National Assembly."
That day, acting CEO Rogers, in response to a question from Rep. Jeong Il-yeong of the Democratic Party of Korea—"The National Intelligence Service says it did not order Coupang to investigate, so what answer will Coupang give?"—said, "The Korean government successfully carried out this operation. There are few cases where corporations and the government cooperated and succeeded together." He did not back down from the original position that the investigation was conducted under the direction of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
On this, the deputy prime minister Bae said, "On the 25th, the day the pan-government task force (TF) was launched, there was an announcement (by Coupang) that only about 3,000 leaks had occurred, and a compensation plan was released before the hearing," adding, "I think it was highly intentional."
Deputy Prime Minister Bae also pointed out that Coupang is not actively cooperating with the investigation. Bae said, "The joint investigation team requested about 160 items of materials, but to date we have received only about 50, and we have not secured the truly important information," adding, "On such matters, only statements based on clear facts should be made, and the compensation plan should have been released based on those results."
Acting CEO Rogers also argued that the motive of the former Chinese employee who leaked personal data was not money but resentment over leaving the company. In response to the question, "What will the person who took the data use it for?" Rogers said, "The intention was not to get money but to take revenge on the company out of resentment over being forced out."
Rogers added, "We confirmed through our investigation what he said. He stored a small amount of data and, after deleting it, did not share it with any third party," and "The suspect said that although he saved the (diverted) information, he did not share it with anyone else and deleted it."
At the hearing that day, acting CEO Rogers' "answers beside the point" were repeated. Previously, when announcing the results of the "self-investigation," Coupang said, "A wrong claim that the investigation was conducted independently without government oversight keeps being raised, creating 'unnecessary anxiety.'" However, in the English-language materials, this was rendered as "false insecurity."
Lawmakers attending the hearing focused on this issue over the two days. However, when asked who wrote the word "false" in the English apology that day, CEO Rogers gave an off-point answer, saying, "I don't understand why the Korean government is not talking about the successful joint efforts."
Meanwhile, Ju Biung-ghi, chair of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, said that depending on the results of the joint public-private investigation, it would be possible to order a business suspension for Coupang. Ju said, "We will determine what information was leaked, what damage is expected, and whether Coupang can properly take measures to remedy the damage, and if necessary, we can order a business suspension." Ju added, "We will comprehensively consider consumer damage and damage to suppliers as well."