CEO of South Korean online retail giant Coupang resigns over data breach

The CEO of South Korean online retail giant Coupang Corp. resigned Wednesday, three weeks after the company became aware of a massive data breach affecting nearly 34 million customers.

Coupang said According to the Google translation of the Korean statement, CEO Park Dae-jun resigned due to the data breach incident that occurred on November 18.

“I am very sorry to have disappointed the public with the recent personal information incident,” Park said, adding, “I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the epidemic and the subsequent recovery process, and I have decided to resign from all my positions.” he said.

Following his resignation, the parent company Coupang Inc.. Appointed Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Harold Rogers as interim CEO.

Coupang said Rogers plans to “focus on alleviating customer anxiety caused by personal information leaks” and stabilize the organization.

Park, who joined the company in 2012, became Coupang’s sole CEO in May after the company moved away from the dual CEO system.

According to CoupangHe was responsible for the company’s innovative new businesses and regional infrastructure development, and led projects to expand sales channels to small and medium-sized businesses, among others.

South Korean companies are known for being “very, very low cost,” which may have led to neglect of areas such as cybersecurity, Peter Kim, managing director of KB Securities, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday.

“I think the main problem here is that there were a number of other violations, not only at Coupang, but also at telecom companies in Korea before,” Kim added. “Some data companies are using Korea [the] “The top three or four people most commonly breached in terms of IT security in the world.”

South Korean companies have been affected by cybersecurity breaches before, including an incident at mobile operator SK Telecom in April that affected 23.24 million people. The country had previously seen one of its biggest cybersecurity incidents in 2011, when attackers committed theft. 35 million user details From Nate and Cyworld internet platforms.

Nate is one of the most popular search engines in South Korea; Cyworld, on the other hand, was one of the country’s largest social networking sites in the early 2000s.

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok It is said that According to South Korean media outlet Yonha, it was reported on Wednesday that strict sanctions would be imposed against the company if the law is violated.

Police also continued their investigation into the data breach by raiding Coupang headquarters for the second day on Wednesday.

Yonhap It was also reported, Citing sources, the police said the search warrant “named a Chinese national who had worked for Coupang as a suspect on charges of breaching the information and communications network and leaking confidential data.”

Last week, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for increased penalties for data breaches, saying the Coupang data breach served as a wake-up call.

— CNBC’s Chery Kang contributed to this report.