Cheong Wa Dae rebuffs US House report, denies ordering Coupang to retrieve data-leak device

Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday pushed back against a report by the US House Judiciary Committee on Coupang, saying it had no prior knowledge of — and gave no instructions for — the retrieval of equipment containing evidence of a personal data leak from China.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac told reporters at the Cheong Wa Dae press center that the report portrayed the presidential office and President Lee Jae Myung as having known in advance that the National Intelligence Service had directed Coupang to retrieve the equipment from China. "That is also entirely untrue," Wi said.

Wi said he had been unaware of what had happened between the relevant agencies and Coupang, adding that the first he heard of it was around mid-December, when a Coupang official mentioned that the equipment had been retrieved and called it good news. "That was the first time I learned of it — I had no idea what had been going on before that," he said. "That is precisely why we are actively pushing back against the characterization that we knew in advance."

Wi explained that the South Korean government moved to seek corrections because the House Judiciary Committee report contained not only one-sided claims by Coupang but also multiple factual inaccuracies.

Wi also rebuffed the report's claim that South Korea discriminates against US companies, saying the government does not treat businesses differently based on nationality or single out any company for investigation. "The probe into Coupang is being conducted in accordance with domestic law, following due process, and on a non-discriminatory basis," he said. "The report's assertions that the investigation is discriminatory, that it is targeted, and that unfair regulation continues are far from the truth."

Wi added that Coupang and the South Korean government appear to hold fundamentally different views on the severity of the data leak.

"It seems the company and our government see this matter differently," he said, pointing to the scope of the leak as one of the central points of disagreement.

According to the government's investigation, more than 33 million personal records were leaked by a Chinese former Coupang employee who accessed the data from China. Wi said access logs confirmed hits on all 33 million records, noting that the data could include information on Americans living in South Korea. "What we cannot confirm is what was done with that information after it was accessed," he said. "We do not know where the leaked data went — that is why we want to investigate."

Wi said Coupang and the suspect claim only about 3,000 records were extracted and retained, but dismissed that as their assertion alone. "The government does not take such a simplified view," he said. "If we accepted the figure of 3,000, we would be minimizing and underestimating the seriousness of the problem."

Wi drew a comparison to how a similar incident would be treated in the United States. "Suppose a comparable data leak had occurred in the US — personal information on two-thirds of the American population had been leaked to China, and no one knew where it had gone," he said. "That would be an extraordinarily serious issue in the United States."

Wi said the government would continue engaging with the US Congress and administration to convey accurate information. "We will make clear that our government does not discriminate against or target tech companies of any nationality, and we will actively explain that we are faithfully honoring our commitments under the Korea-US economic order," he said.

On the potential impact on the broader bilateral relationship, Wi said the government would work to prevent the issue from spilling over into other areas of the Korea-US relationship, including security. "We will try to keep this matter isolated and separated so that it does not affect the many other issues between the two countries," he said.

Wi also referred to remarks he made earlier this year in which he said the Coupang matter was affecting security consultations, adding, "I think we need to work hard to make sure that does not happen again."