[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Coupang's compensation plan, released a month after a massive personal information leak affecting 33.7 million customers, includes a 50,000 won purchase voucher per person. However, this is not a cash reward, but rather a coupon for each service.

This measure is seen as a commercial tactic that forces users to use the company's platform while ignoring the victims' real suffering, and controversy has erupted over whether it is once again mocking Korean consumers.

The majority opinion is that Coupang's stance of banning the word "compensation" even within its internal guidelines is evidence that the company has reduced citizens to mere commercial objects.

The Truth Behind Split Coupons... Customers: "A Low Usage Service to Force Purchases? 80% of Coupons Are Wasteful"

Coupang's purchase vouchers total 50,000 won, but only 5,000 won (10,000 won total) is allocated to core services like Coupang Shopping (Rocket Delivery, Rocket Direct Purchase) and Coupang Eats. Conversely, 20,000 won each (40,000 won total) is poured into Coupang Travel and Alux (luxury beauty and fashion), which have lower usage rates, forcing customers to spend money on services they don't normally use.

Consumers are denouncing this as "marketing disguised as compensation," saying it's "effectively a 10,000 won compensation." Online communities are flooded with comments like, "Are you kidding me?" and "Consumer harassment.

Internal guidelines banning 'compensation': Blatant evidence of accountability evasion

The guidelines for Coupang's subcontracted consultants, obtained by KBS, explicitly state that "the terms 'compensation' and 'promotion' should never be used" and that the term "purchase voucher issuance" should be used interchangeably. This is a ploy to minimize legal liability while acknowledging the damage caused by the leak, revealing a ulterior motive of simply expressing sympathy for customer inconvenience while avoiding cash compensation.

Coupang boasts that its total assets are worth 1.685 trillion won (approximately 1.1 to 1.2 billion dollars), but this is calculated by multiplying 33.7 million people by 50,000 won, so the actual value is only half.

Forced to rejoin after leaving the group: 'Pretending not to know' about leaked information?

Among the 33.7 million users who received notifications of a personal information breach, those who left the service are also affected. However, to use the service, they must re-register starting January 15, 2026. Counselors revealed that "coupons are not issued to those who left the service, but are issued sequentially upon re-registration," a trap designed to trap victims into risking a breach and re-binding them to the platform.

A distribution industry insider criticized the strategy, saying, "By adding conditions such as non-cashable and non-transferable status, they are trying to turn users, who account for one-fifth of the population, into perpetual 'Coupang money-making tools.

Explosive class action lawsuits and consumer backlash: A wave of anger that has left over 500,000 people

Immediately following the leak, the number of members of the class action lawsuit cafe exceeded 240,000 to 800,000, with 483,800 individuals representing 11 law firms. With an average claim of 132,699 won per plaintiff, the lawsuits total a total of 64.2 billion won, raising the possibility of higher compensation than the previous credit card scandal (100,000 won per person verdict) and the SKT hacking (300,000 won recommendation).

The Korea Consumer Agency strongly criticized the move, saying, "It violates the principle of cash compensation by turning it into a coupon reward event," and a class action lawsuit against NYSE-listed Coupang has been announced in the United States.

An insider in the commerce industry said, "Coupang, which has seen a sharp drop in its daily active users of 180,000, has further angered its customers with this incident," and added, "I'm worried about Coupang's future because I don't know if they think Korean customers are suckers or if they know but are just pretending not to know."