SEOUL: The billionaire founding father of South Korea’s Coupang failed to seem earlier than a parliamentary listening to in Seoul on Wednesday (Dec 17) over the e-commerce group’s current information breach, prompting a choice to file a authorized criticism over his absence.
Coupang CEO and chairman Bom Kim declined to attend, citing his abroad residence and commitments as head of a worldwide firm working in additional than 170 international locations.
“Chairman Bom Kim’s claim that he cannot attend because he is travelling abroad and is a global CEO is, in my view, an act that truly mocks the public and delivers despair to global investors,” stated lawmaker Choi Hyung-du.
“Even Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos – heads of companies larger than Coupang – did not refuse to appear before Congress hearings,” he stated.
South Korea’s National Assembly later determined to file a authorized criticism towards the Coupang founder and former chief govt officers below a legislation that compels witnesses to attend hearings and make themselves out there for investigations. Under the legislation, individuals may be fined or imprisoned for refusing testimony.
YELLING IN PARLIAMENT
Emotions ran excessive on the listening to, with lawmakers typically shouting at Harold Rogers, the interim CEO of Coupang Corp, the corporate’s South Korean unit, who was standing in for Kim. Rogers repeatedly requested to be allowed to complete his solutions.
“I’m in communication with our board of directors, including with our chairman,” Rogers stated, however then added: “I am the decision maker in Korea.”
The private information of greater than 33 million Coupang prospects was leaked in a breach believed to have began on Jun 24 by way of abroad servers, although the corporate didn’t study of the issue till Nov 18.