Coupang says data breach compensation plan not tied to lawsuit waiver condition
Harold Rogers, interim CEO of Coupang, answers questions from lawmakers during a hearing on the e-commerce giant's massive data leak at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
The interim head of Coupang, the Korean unit of U.S.-listed Coupang, said Wednesday that the company's compensation plan for a recent data breach will not include any conditions requiring customers to waive their right to file lawsuits against the e-commerce giant.
Responding to a question from Democratic Party of Korea's Rep. Hwang Jung-a during a parliamentary hearing, Harold Rogers, the company's interim chief executive officer (CEO), said the compensation would not be tied to a clause barring civil or criminal legal action.
"There are no conditions in those vouchers, and there will not be any conditions in those vouchers," he said.
He also said the compensation plan would not be used as grounds to seek a reduction in potential damages should claims be filed in the future.
"In U.S. lawsuits, I don't believe that would be (considered) a mitigating factor," said Rogers, the former chief administrative officer (CAO) of Coupang Inc., referring to the compensation plan.
On Monday, the company announced a compensation plan worth 1.685 trillion won ($1.17 billion), a day after Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk issued his first public apology since the massive data leak.
On Nov. 29, Coupang initially confirmed that the personal information of 33.7 million customer accounts had been exposed but later offered a sharply revised-down figure.
Last week, Coupang said it had identified a former employee responsible for the data leak through forensic analysis, recovered the equipment allegedly used in the hacking and obtained a confession from the suspect.
The company claimed that data from only about 3,000 accounts was actually saved and later deleted by the suspect.
Rogers reiterated the company's claim that Coupang's investigation into the former employee was conducted in cooperation with the Seoul government and was not a self-investigation.
The government, however, has dismissed Coupang's findings as a "unilateral claim," noting that a joint public-private investigation into the incident has yet to release its conclusions.
On Tuesday, Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon reaffirmed that the data breach affected more than 33 million customers in Korea, saying Coupang showed "malicious intent" by unilaterally releasing its own assessment report that significantly downplayed the scale of the damage.