Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said Tuesday he does not find credible Coupang's claim that only 3,000 user records were stored in a recent data breach, as the government's investigation found 33.67 million records were exposed.
"Coupang submitted a report claiming the attacker only leaked 3,000 records, but we only received a partial report, not the full version," Bae said at a parliamentary briefing. "The 33.67 million records could have been stored on a hard drive or in the cloud, but Coupang has not been clear about this."
Bae added that forensic analysis of hard drives and SSDs provided by Coupang as evidence "found no evidence related to the leak," further undermining the company's credibility.
The minister said his ministry confirmed the investigation results with Coupang Korea before the joint public-private investigation team announced its findings Monday.
"Coupang's headquarters is telling a different story, and the company is responding in ways that protect its corporate interests and U.S. shareholders," Bae said. "I believe various lobbying efforts are also underway."
He noted that despite the investigation team's announcement, Coupang continues to dispute the findings. "Accurate verification and response are needed, and actions by the Personal Information Protection Commission remain pending," he said.
Bae rejected allegations raised in the U.S. House of Representatives that South Korea discriminated against Coupang in its investigation.
"It is the government's duty to investigate and clarify the facts," he said. "We are proceeding according to law and principle."
Asked whether the timing of Monday's announcement was influenced by U.S. congressional activity, Bae said the government "wanted to announce as quickly as possible" and did not consider timing.
Second Vice Minister Ryu Je-myung said the attacker queried approximately 148 million records. He explained that about 50 million were inactive numbers, while 90 million belonged to current and former subscribers. The privacy commission is examining each address to identify individual owners, he added.