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Coupang came under scrutiny in the National Assembly after it was discovered that the company had secretly deleted an apology message it had published two days after a data breach impacted 33.7 million customers.

On the 2nd, Han Min-soo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, presented to Coupang CEO Park Dae-jun screenshots of the company’s PC and mobile websites from the previous day during an urgent session on current affairs at the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee (SIBCC). He remarked, “I will show you what kind of company Coupang is,” and requested, “Search for the apology statement.”

Images released by Rep. Han showed that the apology statement, published on the 30th of last month, was visible for two days on Coupang’s website and mobile app before vanishing on the 1st. The area where the apology was posted now shows ads for the ‘Christmas Big Sale’ (on the website) and other promotions.

Significantly, Coupang’s apology message was displayed as an advertisement banner, rather than a noticeable ‘pop-up,’ and was positioned in the top corner, rendering it almost invisible.

Rep. Han remarked, “As of 9:07 a.m. today, even this has vanished,” and questioned, “Is this the conduct of a typical corporation? More than 30 million people are worried, but the company is engaging in this to concentrate more on its operations.”

In reply, CEO Park stated, “The apology message was not enough. At the moment, we are getting ready to send a comprehensive explanation along with another apology through individual email updates, as feedback from those concerned about further issues has been received via our customer service,” and he added, “We will be more attentive going forward.”

Meanwhile, Coupang announced on the 29th of last month that “33.7 million customer accounts were found to have been illegally disclosed.” Earlier, on the 18th of last month, the company had discovered around 4,500 customer accounts that had been illegally leaked, but the extent of the damage increased by 7,500 times within 11 days. Authorities are currently investigating, suspecting that a former Chinese developer who left Coupang stole personal data and then went to China.