Coupang Sues to Overturn Record South Korea Data-Leak Fine
Coupang has filed two lawsuits seeking to void fines of 620 billion won (US$462 million) imposed by South Korea's data protection watchdog over a massive data leak and other privacy violations.
The commission fined Coupang a record 624.7 billion won over privacy violations, including the data breach that affected more than 37 million users. The total consisted of a record 423.6 billion won fine for the data breach and an additional 201.1 billion-won fine for the unauthorized collection of records of online user activities and other violations, according to the report. The commission said it was the largest fine ever imposed by the regulator on a single company. Yonhap described the challenged amount as 620 billion won while stating that the commission's total fine was 624.7 billion won.
The punitive measures came more than six months after Coupang belatedly reported a large-scale data breach last November involving personal information of users in South Korea, including their names, phone numbers and delivery details. The regulator concluded that a hacker behind the breach accessed personal information of about 37.5 million users -- 33.2 million Coupang members and 4.3 million others.
Under the personal information protection law, companies that suffer personal information leaks can be fined up to 3 percent of their annual sales, although sales from businesses unrelated to the violation can be excluded. Coupang logged about 36 trillion won in annual sales on average in the past three years, the report said.
The e-commerce company's massive data leak had also emerged as a source of friction between Seoul and Washington after some U.S. officials and lawmakers raised concerns about whether the Korean unit of U.S.-listed Coupang Inc. was being treated unfairly in the investigation, Yonhap reported.
Editor's Summary
Coupang has filed two lawsuits at the Seoul Administrative Court seeking to nullify fines imposed by South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission over a data breach and other privacy violations. The commission's June penalty totaled 624.7 billion won, while the challenged amount was reported as 620 billion won, following a leak that affected about 37.5 million users and drew U.S. attention to the treatment of the U.S.-listed company's Korean unit.