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Lee Gyu-lee

Korea Times Business Reporter

Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.

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Companies

Coupang CEO resigns over data breach

Coupang Corp. announced on Wednesday that its CEO Park Dae-jun has resigned amid mounting public outrage over a recent massive data breach that compromised the personal information of nearly all its users. “I deeply apologize to the public for the disappointment caused by the recent personal data incident,” Park said through the company. “I take full responsibility for both the incident and the handling of the case, so I have decided to step down from all my positions.” Following Park’s resignation, the company’s U.S. parent company Coupang Inc. has appointed its chief administrative officer and general counsel, Harold Rogers, as Coupang Corp.’s interim CEO to take charge in responding to fallout from the incident. The company explained that Rogers will focus on easing customer concerns from the data breach and on managing both internal and external crises to guide the organization back to stability. “We deeply apologize for the concern caused by the personal data leak,” the company said. “We will strengthen information security and do our utmost to restore trust and

Dec 10, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Coupang CEO resigns over data breach
Tech & Science

LG Uplus call breach puts on-device AI security claims under scrutiny

LG Uplus is facing mounting questions over the security architecture of its artificial intelligence (AI) call assistant service ixi-O, following a recent data breach incident that leaked the call data of its users. The breach revealed that call information, previously promoted as being securely contained within users’ smartphones as an on-device service, had in fact been routed through and temporarily stored on the company's servers, undermining its core security claims. The controversy erupted after the telecom company disclosed Friday that calling information of 36 ixi-O subscribers was leaked to 101 other users following a cache-setting error during a routine system update. Exposed details included recipients’ phone numbers, call timestamps and AI-generated call summaries. LG Uplus said it confirmed that personal ID numbers, such as social security or passport numbers, or financial information were leaked and has since fixed the configuration error, blocked further exposure. The company said it notified affected users. The incident has heightened scrutiny of LG Uplus’ product arc

Dec 10, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
LG Uplus call breach puts on-device AI security claims under scrutiny
Companies

Coupang founder to be summoned over data breach

The National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee will summon Coupang founder and Chairman Kim Bom-suk, also known as Bom Kim, as the key witness at a Dec. 17 hearing into his company’s massive personal data breach. The committee approved the hearing during a meeting on Monday, determining that Coupang’s responses in the initial emergency questioning on Dec. 2 were insufficient. “We decided to adopt the proposal for a hearing to address unresolved suspicions that remain despite previous questioning,” said Rep. Choi Min-hee, who chairs the committee. A total of nine witnesses and five expert witnesses will be summoned for the hearing. Six Coupang executives are on the list, including Kim, Coupang Corp. CEO Park Dae-jun, former CEO Kang Han-seung, who is now head of the company’s North American operations, and Chief Information Security Officer Brett Matthes. Government officials have also been called to testify, including Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon and Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) President Lee Sang-joong. Expert witnesses include

Dec 9, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Coupang founder to be summoned over data breach
Tech & Science

IBM Korea GM emphasizes company-wide data strategy for AI expansion

IBM Korea General Manager Lee Soo-jung said Tuesday that the absence of a company-wide data strategy is the biggest roadblock preventing Korean enterprises from implementing artificial intelligence (AI) to advance business outcomes. “AI has already become a symbol of corporate innovation, but most companies still remain at the experimental stage,” Lee said during a press conference at the company’s office in Yeouido, Seoul. “To successfully adopt AI and deliver tangible results, Korean companies must urgently strengthen their data strategies.” Sharing the results of a survey of C-suite executives the company recently conducted, she pointed out many companies still lack the strategy to fully harness their unique proprietary data, urging them to make data strategy a core management priority rather than a technical function. The survey showed that while CEOs recognize enterprise data utilization as the key to unlocking generative AI value, only 1 percent of enterprise-specific data is used in actual AI products. Only 13 percent of chief data officers said their companies have the c

Dec 9, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
IBM Korea GM emphasizes company-wide data strategy for AI expansion
Tech & Science

Apple’s map data bid faces long odds without Korean data center

Pressure is mounting on Apple to commit to building a data center in Korea, as the government’s ruling on the company’s request to transfer high-precision map data overseas has effectively been pushed to next year. Industry experts say approval is unlikely unless Apple clearly commits to domestic infrastructure, especially as scrutiny intensifies following similar issues raised with Google. “It’s unclear whether Apple will truly operate its own data centers, or if it’s just placing a few servers somewhere and calling that a data center or perhaps using a leased data center under the guise of an authentication system. In reality, it’s no different from Google,” an industry insider said. “What is clear is that the government has three main requirements, and the most important one is the data center. Once a data center is in place, the other two are essentially resolved automatically.” The National Geographic Information Institute said Friday that it will extend the processing period after Apple asked for more time to revise its original application, delaying the final de

Dec 9, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Apple’s map data bid faces long odds without Korean data center
Companies

LG Energy Solution lands $1.4 bil. Mercedes-Benz battery deal

LG Energy Solution has secured a $1.4 billion deal to supply electric vehicle (EV) batteries to Mercedes-Benz. The company disclosed on Monday that it has signed a battery supply deal with the German carmaker, with the contract value equivalent to about 8 percent of LG Energy Solution’s revenue last year. The agreement covers battery supplies for Mercedes-Benz EV models in Europe and North America from March 1, 2028, to June 30, 2035. The company noted in the disclosure that “the contract value and terms may be subject to change based on future discussions with the customer.” This follows a large-scale supply deal the two companies signed in September. Under that agreement, the Korean company committed to providing a total of 107 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries to Mercedes-Benz — 75 GWh to an affiliate from July 30, 2029, to Dec. 31, 2037, and 32 GWh to the group from Aug. 1, 2028, to Dec. 31, 2035. The two sides have maintained a close partnership on EV batteries. Last month, LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung and chief executives from LG Group affiliates met with Mercedes-B

Dec 8, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
LG Energy Solution lands $1.4 bil. Mercedes-Benz battery deal
Tech & Science

SK hynix wins 2 top honors at 2025 GSA Awards

SK hynix earned two prestigious honors at the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Awards 2025. The company said Sunday that it won the Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company Award in the over $1 billion annual sales category, as well as the Outstanding Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Company Award. The awards ceremony happened Thursday (local time) in Santa Clara, California. This is the second time the company has won the best financially managed accolade since 2017, reaffirming its status as one a leading semiconductor company. Founded in 1996, the GSA Awards are considered the semiconductor industry’s most authoritative honors, recognizing companies for leadership, financial performance and technological innovation. The Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company Award evaluates a firm’s financial soundness and overall performance, focusing not only on revenue scale but also on real financial management capabilities and operational efficiency. The Outstanding Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Company Award honors companies in the region for product excellence, vision, leadership an

Dec 7, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
SK hynix wins 2 top honors at 2025 GSA Awards
Companies

Coupang's hiring process questioned for emphasis on Chinese nationals

Coupang is facing intensifying scrutiny over its long-standing practice of aggressively hiring Chinese developers. The attention comes after revelations that a former Chinese employee is the prime suspect in the company’s recent massive data breach, which exposed the information of 33.7 million users. Even with the growing security concerns and political pressure, the e-commerce giant remains tight-lipped about the exact scale of its workforce in China, but questions are rising regarding whether its offshore staffing strategy may have exacerbated its security vulnerabilities. Coupang’s job postings for high‑paid developer roles can still easily be found on major Chinese recruitment platforms such as BOSS Zhipin and Liepin, as well as on the popular professional networking site Maimai. So far this year, job openings through verified Coupang accounts and headhunters have sought talent for positions such as back-end engineers, data scientists, and product managers, primarily based in Beijing and Shanghai, and occasionally in Seoul. The listings also included high-level positions suc

Dec 4, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Coupang's hiring process questioned for emphasis on Chinese nationals
Tech & Science

RLWRLD CEO urges physical AI shift to solve labor crisis in Korea

The CEO of artificial intelligence (AI) startup RLWRLD, Ryu Jung-hee, emphasized the need for physical AI-based robotics to deal with the labor shortage crisis facing the manufacturing sectors of Korea and Japan. The CEO joined the physical AI trend session at Amazon Web Services’ annual technology conference, AWS re:Invent 2025, held from Dec. 1 to 5 (local time) in Las Vegas, sharing his insight on the future of robot foundation models and industrial automation. Physical AI refers to intelligence directly embedded into machines and production systems. The panel also included Sri Elaprolu, director of AWS’ Generative AI Innovation Center; Kevin Peterson, chief technology officer at Bedrock Robotics; and Amit Goel, head of robotics and edge computing ecosystem at Nvidia. “Korea and Japan, as manufacturing-based countries, are rapidly losing skilled labor due to the demographic cliff,” Ryu said. “Our large enterprise customers feel a sense of crisis that if they fail to transition to automation within five years, their core businesses may disappear.… Physical AI and humanoid r

Dec 4, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
RLWRLD CEO urges physical AI shift to solve labor crisis in Korea
Companies

Olive Young hits $680 mil. in foreign tourist purchases

CJ Olive Young reached 1 trillion won ($680 million) in purchases by visiting foreign tourists at its offline stores nationwide from January to November, establishing itself as a global K-beauty hub. The company announced the figure on Wednesday, noting that it is roughly 26 times its annual sales in 2022, when the market was still transitioning out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The share of offline sales by foreign customers, which hovered around 2 percent in 2022, surpassed 25 percent for the first time this year after climbing into double digits in 2023. “Achieving 1 trillion won in purchases by visiting foreigners is especially meaningful in that small and indie brands found global customers through Olive Young to accomplish this together,” an Olive Young official said. “We will continue to make efforts to ensure that K-beauty becomes not just a trend but a reason to revisit Korea and a core element of tourism.” The leading beauty and skin care product retailer has become a must-visit stop for travelers to Korea, as more foreign shoppers seek the latest in K-beauty trends. From Ja

Dec 3, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Olive Young hits $680 mil. in foreign tourist purchases
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