Daeryun Law Firm files additional criminal complaint for Coupang personal information leak... “Point out poor internal management and focus on concealment”

Daeryun Law Firm announced on the 25th that it submitted an additional complaint to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against Coupang Co., Ltd., former CEO Park Dae-jun, and the person in charge of certification work in relation to the Coupang personal information leak incident.

Daeryun also filed a complaint against them in December of last year on charges of violation of the Personal Information Protection Act and breach of trust in business, but explained that after that, additional complaints were filed as damage cases were continuously received. In the additional complaint submitted this time, about 940 victims were named as complainants.

The complaint contained content pointing out Coupang's lack of internal management and the illegality of its follow-up response. Daeryun pointed out that the main cause of this incident was ‘poor internal system management’ rather than external hacking, and emphasized that circumstances surrounding concealment and reduction immediately after the accident were suspected. Accordingly, we plan to verify the charges by examining violations from a variety of perspectives, including general problematic issues such as professional breach of trust, as well as violation of the Personal Information Protection Act due to intentional negligence.

Large-scale civil lawsuits are also picking up speed. On the 12th, Daeryun submitted a lawsuit for damages against Coupang Corporation and former Coupang CEO Park Dae-jun to the Seoul Eastern District Court on behalf of 3,566 victims.

The complaint listed as key issues the violation of security measures due to non-recovery of the authentication key of a retired employee and the violation of notification obligations due to delayed public announcement after recognition of unauthorized access. In addition, the CEO's personal responsibility for the security system collapse was also majorly addressed.

Based on these issues, Daeryun plans to explain the risk of secondary crimes due to the combination of leaked information and actively demonstrate to the court that even if there is no direct financial damage, the leak of personal information itself has caused serious rights violations and mental damage.

Legal action is also underway in the United States. On the 8th, Daeryun's American partner law firm SJKP formally filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, with Coupang Inc, Coupang's parent company, and Chairman Kim Beom-seok as co-defendants.

This lawsuit plans to hold Chairman Kim Beom-seok, who makes the final decision on policy, responsible for negligence, violation of implied contracts, unjust enrichment, and violation of the New York State Consumer Protection Act. Based on this, we plan to force fundamental systemic changes at Coupang, including monetary compensation of more than $5 million (approximately 7.3 billion won) and the establishment of a security system through court declaratory and injunctive relief. SJKP plans to continue recruiting plaintiffs and expand the scale of the lawsuit.

Kim Kook-il, CEO of Daeryun Management, said, “This lawsuit is a measure to sound the alarm on the company’s complacent sense of security and irresponsible follow-up response,” and added, “We will restore the rights of victims until the end through multifaceted and three-dimensional legal support that links domestic civil and criminal lawsuits with class action lawsuits in U.S. federal courts.”

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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