(Dec 15): Coupang Inc’s founder Bom Kim told South Korean lawmakers that he won’t attend this week’s parliamentary hearing on the country’s largest-ever data breach, blaming his busy schedule.
Kim, who also serves as Coupang’s chief executive officer and the head of its board, submitted a formal statement declining to appear before lawmakers, according to Choi Min-hee, who heads a parliamentary committee for science, ICT and broadcasting.
Two former heads of Coupang’s Korean operations — Park Dae-jun and Kang Han-seung — also notified lawmakers that they would not attend after they were summoned by the committee. They both said that they had resigned from Coupang and were no longer in a position to answer questions about the data breach, according to copies of their statements attached to Choi’s post on Facebook.
The parliamentary committee rejected the executives’ refusal to attend and described the moves as a “systematic evasion of corporate responsibility” that betrays public trust. The committee will push for legislation to prevent corporate executives from behaving in this manner, it said in a statement.
“Coupang may attempt to flee beyond the nation’s borders, but its responsibility cannot escape those borders,” the committee said, according to the statement shared by Choi.
Park, Coupang’s former CEO for Korean operations, stepped down last week and the company appointed Harold Rogers, chief administrative officer and general counsel of the parent company, as interim head.
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Coupang disclosed last month that the personal information of 33.7 million customers had been compromised, including names, phone numbers, email addresses and delivery details. This revelation sparked intense scrutiny from lawmakers regarding the company’s data security practices.
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