Coupang CEO fails to appear at South Korean parliamentary hearing on data breach

The founder of South Korea's Coupang failed to appear before a Wednesday parliamentary hearing about the massive data breach at the e-commerce giant, angering lawmakers who said they would hold him responsible.

Coupang Inc CEO and Chairman Bom Kim declined to attend the hearing, citing his overseas residence and commitments as head of a global company operating in more than 170 countries.

"Chairman Bom Kim's claim that he cannot attend because he is traveling abroad and is a global CEO is, in my view, an act that truly mocks the public and delivers despair to global investors," said lawmaker Choi Hyung-du.

"Even Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos - heads of companies larger than Coupang - did not refuse to appear before Congress hearings," he said.

The personal data of more than 33 million Coupang customers was leaked in a breach believed to have started on June 24 through overseas servers, though the company did not learn of the problem until November 18.

Coupang's shares have slumped some 17% since the company revealed the leak at its South Korean unit late last month.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has since called for increased penalties for corporate negligence in data breaches. Under current South Korean law, companies that fail to implement adequate data protection measures can be fined up to 3% of revenue.

That could mean a fine of more than 1 trillion won ($680 million) for Coupang, which reported 38.3 trillion won in revenue in 2024.

-Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang