Coupang CEO Harold Rogers was reportedly questioned on Friday by police in Seoul who are probing whether the e-commerce site destroyed or hid evidence relating to a massive data breach that became public in November.
The data breach affected 33.7 million customer accounts and has created a firestorm of controversy for a company that functions as the Korean version of Amazon.
Rogers appeared before the Seoul Metropolitan Police, who consider Rogers a suspect in their investigation into whether Coupang obstructed a government inquiry, the Korea Herald reported.
Rogers was earlier summoned by police twice, but did not appear. Police launched a task force on the Coupang breach in December.
Speaking to reporters at police headquarters, Rogers said the company would fully cooperate with the probe, “as it always has,” and pledged to do the same in his discussions with police, the Herald reported.
Rogers, the former general counsel for Coupang’s U.S.-based parent company, was appointed acting head of the Korean division on December 10.
Investigators are also probing a former Coupang employee of Chinese descent whom they believe played a key role in the data breach.
Police are reportedly studying whether Coupang contacted the former employee and disrupted the police investigation by doing its own forensic review of the breach.
In December, Korean police recovered a smashed laptop from a river, which they alleged was tied to bricks in an effort to destroy evidence.
The company said at the time that it was cooperating fully with law enforcement and that allegations of negligence were false.
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Suzanne Smalley
is a reporter covering digital privacy, surveillance technologies and cybersecurity policy for The Record. She was previously a cybersecurity reporter at CyberScoop. Earlier in her career Suzanne covered the Boston Police Department for the Boston Globe and two presidential campaign cycles for Newsweek. She lives in Washington with her husband and three children.
