SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean police questioned Coupang’s interim chief executive officer again on Friday over allegations that he gave false testimony to lawmakers during a parliamentary probe into the company’s massive data breach.
Harold Rogers appeared before investigators for the second time in a week as police examine claims that he committed perjury while testifying under oath at a two-day National Assembly hearing in late December. The hearing focused on Coupang’s handling of a large-scale data leak that exposed personal information of tens of millions of customers.
Investigators are seeking clarification on Rogers’ statements to lawmakers that Coupang carried out its own internal investigation into a Chinese national suspected of involvement in the breach and confiscated the individual’s laptop at the direction of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service. The intelligence agency has denied issuing such instructions, leading a parliamentary committee to file a complaint requesting an investigation into Rogers and six other current and former Coupang executives on suspicion of perjury.
Rogers was previously questioned for nearly 12 hours last Friday in connection with allegations of obstruction of justice related to the same data leak, which authorities say affected more than 33 million customers nationwide.
Police had earlier summoned Rogers twice, but he left South Korea in early January before complying. He returned to Seoul only days ahead of his first interrogation.
Separately, Coupang disclosed on Thursday that it had identified another data leak involving personal information from more than 165,000 customer accounts. The company said the breach stemmed from an incident first detected in November.
According to Coupang, the leaked data included customer names, phone numbers, and addresses entered for shipping purposes. The company said it has notified affected customers in line with guidance from the country’s personal information protection regulator.
The latest disclosure comes as Coupang faces heightened regulatory and public scrutiny following the November revelation of the broader data breach, which triggered a government investigation and intensified questions over the company’s internal controls, disclosure practices, and handling of sensitive customer information. (Source: IANS)
