Park Dae-jun, chief executive of South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang, resigned following a massive data breach that compromised personal information of nearly 34 million individuals—more than half of South Korea’s population.
In a public statement, Park expressed remorse over the incident, citing a “deep sense of responsibility for the outbreak and the subsequent recovery process.” Coupang disclosed that its parent company’s U.S.-based top lawyer, Harold Rogers, will assume the chief executive role, according to a machine translation of the company’s statement.
Coupang had revealed last month that the breach began in June but went undetected until November. Initially, the company reported that data from over 4,500 customers had been accessed. That number was later revised significantly to approximately 34 million affected users.
The breach is among several recent cybersecurity incidents in South Korea. Throughout the year, both private corporations and government entities have faced cyberattacks. A major data center fire earlier in the year resulted in unrecoverable losses of government records, highlighting broader systemic vulnerabilities in the country’s digital infrastructure.
Coupang, often likened to Amazon for its logistics network and e-commerce dominance in South Korea, has faced increased scrutiny following the security lapse. The company has not disclosed specific details about the nature of the compromised data or the suspected actors behind the breach.
