Harold Rogers, Coupang's acting chief executive, responded to criticism of the so-called "self-investigation" by calling it "a successful case of cooperation between private corporations and the Korean government," repeating the existing position that the probe was conducted under government direction. Coupang said at the hearing the previous day that the cooperating government agency was the National Intelligence Service, but the National Intelligence Service has officially denied it.
At a joint Coupang hearing held at the National Assembly on the 31st, Acting Chief Executive Rogers answered a question from Rep. Jeong Il-yeong of the Democratic Party of Korea, who asked, "The National Intelligence Service says it never instructed Coupang to conduct an investigation, so what will Coupang say?" by saying, "The Korean government successfully carried out this operation. It is rare for private corporations and the government to work together and succeed."
Earlier, on the 25th, Coupang announced the results of its internal investigation into the personal information leak. It said that after questioning the former employee suspected of the data leak, the leaker used a stolen security key to access basic customer information for 33 million customer accounts, actually stored customer information for about 3,000 accounts (name, email, phone number, address, and some order information), and then deleted all the stored information after seeing news reports about the incident.
Coupang also said all these procedures were carried out under government direction. At the hearing the previous day, Acting Chief Executive Rogers, responding to a question from Rep. Hwang Jeong-a of the Democratic Party of Korea about "which government ministry ordered the investigation," said, "My understanding is that the agency has publicly acknowledged it," and answered, "the National Intelligence Service."
However, the National Intelligence Service called the remark "clearly false" and asked the National Assembly to file a complaint on suspicion of perjury. In a press release distributed the previous day, the National Intelligence Service said, "We asked the National Assembly's Coupang hearing, which has the authority to file a complaint, to report (Harold Rogers), Coupang's chief executive, for perjury under Article 14, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Testimony and Appraisal at the National Assembly."
Meanwhile, Coupang announced the earlier "self-investigation" results and said, "As the false claim that we conducted the investigation independently without government oversight continues to be raised, 'unnecessary anxiety' is being created." However, in the English version of the materials, this was rendered as "false insecurity." Lawmakers at the hearing raised issues with this part.
When asked who wrote the term "false" used in the English apology, Rogers answered off-topic, saying, "It is not understood why the Korean government does not talk about the successful joint effort."
Rep. Jeong said, "Coupang has not even submitted the materials requested, and the answers (from Rogers) are too frustrating," adding, "Even so, the National Assembly will do its job. We will file a complaint (against Rogers) and take necessary action."