According to the report published by Bloomberg, in the wake of South Korea’s largest-ever data breach, e-commerce giant Coupang has announced a compensation package worth more than $1 billion for the tens of millions of customers affected.
On Monday, the company said it plans to hand out digital vouchers worth as much as 50,000 won to 33.7 million customers whose data was exposed. The vouchers are split across its services, covering everything from regular Coupang shopping to food delivery, travel, and its R.LUX beauty platform.
The massive breach, which impacted nearly two-thirds of South Korea’s population, has triggered a government probe and widespread public concern. Coupang, often called the “Amazon of South Korea,” is now grappling with severe reputational damage and legal fallout.
The company’s response has been shadowed by leadership controversies. Billionaire founder Bom Kim notably failed to appear at a parliamentary hearing this month investigating the incident. Park Dae-jun, the former head of Coupang’s Korean operations, was also absent.
According to Coupang’s internal investigation disclosed last week, the breach was allegedly carried out by a former employee who accessed the personal data linked to 33 million accounts. The company claims that data from roughly 3,000 of those accounts was retained by the individual.
Despite its scale, the voucher program has come under close examination. Industry analysts question whether it is sufficient to rebuild confidence after a privacy breach, particularly given that the credits are tied to spending within Coupang’s ecosystem.
For all the scale of modern tech companies, the breach revealed how fragile data stewardship can be. It now stands as a defining moment for corporate accountability in South Korea’s digital economy, with the lingering question of whether a billion dollars in vouchers can heal the rift with millions of users.
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