Rogers Reaffirms Commitment to Full Cooperation in Seoul’s Data Breach Investigation
Coupang Korea’s interim CEO, Harold Rogers, was summoned for a second time by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Friday, facing perjury allegations linked to a December National Assembly hearing.
Before entering police questioning, Rogers addressed the press, stating, “Coupang will continue to fully cooperate with all government investigations. We will also faithfully and thoroughly cooperate with the police investigation today.”
This follows a previous 12-hour interrogation on January 30, where Rogers faced allegations of destroying evidence related to a data breach disclosed in November, impacting approximately 33.7 million accounts.
Coupang announced on Thursday the exposure of personal information from approximately 165,000 additional user accounts due to the cybersecurity incident. The company clarified that the data from these newly identified accounts – including names, phone numbers, and addresses – was not among the data initially stored by the perpetrator.
The e-commerce giant had previously indicated that the hacker only saved information from around 3,000 customer accounts, which was subsequently deleted without being shared with any third parties.
In an email to Coupang employees on Thursday, Rogers reiterated his commitment to fully cooperate with the Seoul investigation, urging colleagues to proactively assist by submitting information to authorities and participating in related interviews.
Amidst the ongoing Korean government probe into Coupang’s data breach, US politicians have become involved, expressing support for Coupang, a US company incorporated in Delaware and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Representative Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Representative Scott Fitzgerald, Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust, have requested Rogers’s presence for a deposition at a committee hearing scheduled for February 23.
In their letter to Rogers, the congressmen stated, “The targeting of Coupang and the potential prosecution of its American executives serve as a sharp escalation of South Korea’s campaign against innovative American-owned companies and directly conflicts with its recent commitment to avoid discriminatory treatment and the creation of unnecessary barriers for US digital service providers.”
“We require communications between Coupang and the Korean government regarding the company’s compliance with foreign laws, regulations, judicial orders, or other government initiated efforts and how these foreign laws affect US companies.”
Coupang has yet to confirm whether Rogers will attend the hearing in Washington.
A senior Korean official in Washington D.C. suggested on Thursday that the American lawmakers’ subpoena of Coupang’s interim CEO appears to be influenced by Coupang’s lobbying efforts in the US.
According to OpenSecrets, an independent research group tracking US lobbying, Coupang has spent $8.22 million on lobbying activities between 2022 and 2025.
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