[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Coupang is facing a massive punitive damages lawsuit in the US due to a personal information leak involving 33.7 million people. Furthermore, it has been revealed that the company has been secretly operating a public relations organization near Gangnam Station. Key public relations personnel, including CEO Park Dae-joon, have been working in private offices there, secretly communicating with the government, the Presidential Office, the Fair Trade Commission, and the media, sparking a wave of controversy.

SJKP, the US branch of Daeryun Law Firm, held a press conference at its Manhattan office on December 8 (local time) and announced plans to file a consumer class action lawsuit against Coupang Inc., Coupang's US parent company, in New York Federal Court. On the same day, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber ​​Investigation Division conducted a search and seizure of Coupang's headquarters and launched an investigation to determine the source and cause of the information leak.

US Litigation: A Different Approach from Korea

Kim Kook-il, CEO of Daeryun Law Firm, said, "Coupang has been running its business in a very unique way, with its headquarters in the U.S., most of its consumers in Korea, and security managed through a Chinese company," and emphasized, "In order to secure reasonable compensation for damages, a lawsuit in the U.S. is inevitable."

Kim explained, "While the Korean lawsuit focuses on compensating consumers for damages, the US lawsuit will be fundamentally different, addressing corporate governance failures and breaches of disclosure obligations by listed companies." Tal Hershberg, an attorney at SJKP, noted, "In Korea, proving damages from corporate information concealment is difficult, and even Kakao, which received the largest fine ever, was only 15.1 billion won. The US has a punitive damages system, which significantly varies the amount of damages."

The possibility of astronomical compensation

In the United States, compensation for personal information breaches ranges from $20 to $1,000 per person. If the Coupang incident had occurred in the United States, the damages are estimated to range from a minimum of $670 million (approximately 980 billion won) to a maximum of $33.7 billion (approximately 49 trillion won). In fact, in 2021, US telecommunications company T-Mobile paid out 459 billion won in settlements after a personal information breach affecting over 76.6 million people, compensating up to 32 million won per person. Last year, AT&T also settled two data breaches, reaching 260 billion won and compensating up to 11 million won per person.

Expanding participation of victims at home and abroad

It has been reported that approximately 200 people who participated in the Korean lawsuit have also joined the US lawsuit, and SJKP plans to formally file the lawsuit within this month. Currently, the number of participants in the Coupang information leak class action lawsuit in Korea has exceeded 650,000, and online communities such as Naver Cafe are actively recruiting victims. While compensation claims in Korea typically range from 200,000 won to 1 million won per person, the US lawsuit is likely to result in much higher damages.

Government Response and Future Outlook

President Lee Jae-myung mentioned the Coupang case at a Cabinet meeting on the 9th, saying, "We need to make fines realistic." He instructed the Ministry of Government Legislation to consider granting compulsory investigative powers to government agencies like the Fair Trade Commission to make punishment through economic sanctions a reality. This incident is expected to spark intense criticism and investigations both domestically and internationally regarding Coupang's legal responsibility and security management failures.

Coupang's all-out lobbying effort takes place in a secret Gangnam office, with CEO Park Dae-joon leading the charge.

According to a Nocut News report on the 10th, it was revealed that Coupang had been secretly operating a public relations organization near Gangnam Station, following the personal information leak incident. The name Coupang was not mentioned on external signs or even on the internal floor guides. Approximately 40 high-ranking public relations staff were working under the name of the "Social Contribution Committee." Key public relations staff, including CEO Park Dae-joon, Vice President for Government and National Assembly Affairs Cho Yong-woo, and Vice President for External Cooperation Min Byeong-gi, maintained individual offices there and responded to requests from the government, the Presidential Office, the Fair Trade Commission, and the media.

Suspicions of secret operations and evasion of investigation and inspection

This Gangnam office was reportedly undetectable even within Coupang's internal systems, making it difficult even for Coupang employees to know of its existence. A National Assembly official raised suspicions, saying, "This concealment of the office's existence suggests an intention to exclude it from search and seizure by investigative agencies, not to mention the company itself." Indeed, on the 9th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency conducted a large-scale search and seizure of Coupang's headquarters and other locations in connection with a personal information leak, but the Gangnam office was reportedly excluded from the investigation.

The organization, size and influence of the Crown

Coupang has hired 28 people this year alone, including retired government officials from hacking response agencies. The number grows even larger when legal professionals and former government officials are added. A former aide to the People Power Party said, "Coupang significantly expanded its government relations organization ahead of this year's state audit, aggressively recruiting not only aides to National Assembly members but also former employees of the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Financial Supervisory Service." Coupang's reported hiring of 44 high-ranking government officials over the past five years clearly reveals its government-centric management structure.

According to widespread

reports of external pressure and lobbying, Coupang's Gangnam office opened in June, coinciding with the start of the personal information leak (around June 24th). During this period, Coupang was also suspected of exerting external pressure on the prosecution leadership during the investigation into the "unpaid severance pay case." In July, the company launched its Social Contribution Committee, a de facto government-sponsored organization. Political circles and industry insiders are increasingly concerned about Coupang's decision to secure a separate office and concentrate its high-ranking government-sponsored organization at a time when the massive personal information leak was in full swing.

Government concerns over undermining fair competition

The Office of the President has launched a comprehensive inspection of Coupang's public relations personnel operations. Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik instructed, "A comprehensive investigation and report on corporate cases that pose a risk of undermining fair competition." As suspicions surrounding this incident expand beyond a simple security incident and intertwine with the structure, role, and influence of the public relations organization, it appears the government is beginning to investigate not only Coupang's response to the incident but also its lobbying of political circles.

Coupang's secret Gangnam office and its operation of a public agency, along with security failures, are further fueling public skepticism about the company's fairness and transparency.