Coupang has decided not to accept a proposal from the Korea Consumer Agency's Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee to compensate victims of a data breach that occurred last year, offering 100,000 won per person.
On September 11, Coupang submitted a written statement to the Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee indicating its refusal to accept the proposal.
Coupang stated, "We carefully reviewed the proposal but ultimately determined that acceptance was not feasible. We have implemented a voluntary compensation plan amounting to 1.68 trillion won and have strengthened our data protection efforts, with no confirmed secondary damages to date." The company added that the decision was made after considering its proactive measures and the potential impact of accepting the proposal.
The mediation process began when 50 victims filed a group dispute mediation request against Coupang in December last year, seeking damages. The committee initiated mediation in April and decided in July to award each victim 100,000 won in cash or Coupang cash.
The committee based its decision on the fact that the leaked information included personal details such as names, emails, addresses, as well as sensitive information like shared entrance passwords and order histories. It noted that the data breach persisted for a significant period from April to November last year, and some customers received emails directly from hackers, indicating a real risk of misuse. Consequently, the committee concluded that Coupang was responsible for compensating the victims for their emotional distress.
If Coupang had accepted the proposal, it could have led to compensation for victims who did not participate in the group mediation under the same criteria. With 33.7 million customers affected by the data breach, the total compensation could have reached approximately 3.7 trillion won.
Previously, Coupang implemented its own compensation plan, providing affected customers with purchase vouchers worth 50,000 won each, totaling 1.68 trillion won.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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