South Korea Fines E-commerce Firm Coupang Record $409 Million for Data Breach

South Korea Imposes Record Fine on Coupang Over Massive Data Breach

The Personal Information Protection Commission in South Korea has fined e-commerce giant Coupang 625 billion won ($409.30 million) for a massive leak of customer information last year and the illegal collection of personal data. This penalty marks the largest data breach fine imposed on a company in the country's history.

According to the commission, Coupang leaked personal data of more than 33 million customers and failed to detect the breach within the 72 hours required by law. The fine amounts to 1.4% of Coupang's revenue of 45 trillion won in 2025, as calculated by Reuters.

The commission attributed the breach to Coupang's lack of safety measures and systems, rather than sophisticated hacking. Coupang has apologized for causing concern to the public and its customers. However, the company expressed regret that its proactive measures to prevent secondary harm from the data leak incident, as well as its explanations based on clear facts, were not sufficiently reflected in the regulator's decision.