South Korea fines Coupang $409 million in country's largest data breach penalty

South Korea has imposed its largest-ever data breach penalty on e-commerce giant Coupang, fining the company 625 billion won (approximately $409 million).

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This accident occurred due to Coupang's lack of safety measures and systems, not sophisticated hacking.

The penalty stems from a massive leak of customer information last year and the illegal collection of personal data. The Personal Information Protection Commission found that Coupang failed to detect the breach within the legally mandated 72 hours and that the personal data of over 33 million customers was compromised.

Song Kyung-hee, chairperson of the privacy regulator, stated that the incident was due to Coupang's inadequate safety measures and systems, rather than a sophisticated cyberattack. The fine represents about 1.4 percent of Coupang's 2025 revenue. Coupang, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and generates most of its revenue in South Korea, apologized for the incident but expressed regret that its proactive measures and explanations were not fully reflected in the regulator's decision.

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we regret that our proactive measures to prevent secondary harm from last year's data leak incident, as well as our explanations based on clear facts, were not sufficiently reflected

Further investigation revealed that a former employee allegedly stole a security key, gaining unauthorized access to customer accounts. The regulator also found that Coupang illegally collected online activity data from around 11 million customers without their consent for its marketing program. The South Korean government emphasized that the probe was separate from ongoing trade talks with the United States, despite concerns raised in Washington about the treatment of the U.S.-listed company.

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Coupang has grown its e-commerce service significantly based on vast customer data. But the company did not have a system to protect and manage customer information despite its business scale.