So, What’s All the Drama About?
You guys know how you can’t live without Amazon Prime, right? Well, that’s Coupang for us here in Seoul. Their ‘Rocket Delivery’ is a lifesaver. But the company is in super hot water right now because of a massive data leak. We’re talking names, phone numbers, and addresses of 33.7 million people being exposed. Considering Korea’s population, that’s a crazy number of people affected!
The person at the center of all this is Kim Beom-seok, the founder and chairman of Coupang Inc. He’s actually a Korean-American and the parent company, Coupang Inc., is based in the U.S., which is a key part of this whole story.
The “No-Show” King
Naturally, the Korean government is taking this very seriously and scheduled a parliamentary hearing for December 17th to figure out what went wrong. They summoned Kim Beom-seok as a key witness, but he just submitted a letter saying he won’t be attending. His excuse? He has ‘official business schedules’ overseas as a ‘global CEO’ and can’t make it.
This has pretty much everyone rolling their eyes, because he has a history of doing this. Whenever there’s a major issue at Coupang, like controversies over worker safety in the past, he tends to be conveniently ‘overseas’ and avoids public questioning. It’s become a pattern of him taking the profits from Korea while avoiding any of the responsibility when things go wrong.
Why Are People SO Mad?
This isn’t just about missing a meeting; it feels really disrespectful to the Korean public. Coupang is a massive part of the economy here, and for the founder to repeatedly refuse to face the country’s leaders after such a huge failure feels incredibly arrogant to many people. As a result, the online communities are buzzing with angry users, and many are posting screenshots of themselves canceling their Coupang memberships in protest.
Politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties are furious, calling his absence an act that ‘ignores the people’ and ‘deceives the National Assembly’. They’re now discussing what legal actions they can take to compel him to answer for the breach.
What’s Next?
While Kim Beom-seok is a no-show, the hearing will proceed with other Coupang executives on the 17th. However, without the main decision-maker present, many doubt it will lead to any real accountability. This whole situation has sparked a huge debate about how to hold global founders of Korean-based companies responsible. It’s a huge mess, and honestly, it feels like a big slap in the face to all of us who use and trust Coupang every day. I’ll definitely keep you posted on what happens next!
