Coupang's 'half' hearing missing the key... The direction of the political world’s ‘sin of shame’

Chairman Kim Beom-seok and other three people did not attend on the 17th... ruling and opposition party lawmakers announce follow-up measures
Proposal of amendments such as 'strengthening representative responsibility'... Democratic Party “Preparing fundamental measures”

Ahead of the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Communication Committee hearing on the 17th regarding the large-scale personal information leak, a 'half-length' hearing is expected as the three key members of Coupang submitted written reasons for non-attendance.

According to the political circles and industry on the 15th, the day before, Kim Beom-seok Inc. The chairman, Kang Han-seung, head of North American business development, and former CEO Dae-jun Park submitted written reasons for not attending the hearing.

Previously, at a general meeting on the 9th, the National Security Committee decided to hold a hearing on the Coupang infringement incident at 10 a.m. on the 17th, and Chairman Kim, former CEO Park, and General Manager Kang
, Coupang CISO Brat Metis, Coupang Vice President of External Cooperation Min Byeong-gi, and Coupang Vice President of National Assembly and Government Affairs Cho Yong-woo were selected as witnesses.

However, as the three people expressed their intention not to appear, the National Defense Commission announced that it plans to take related decisions, including legal action, on the day of the hearing.

A political official said, "As both the ruling and opposition parties believe that the reason for non-attendance is inappropriate, a decision is expected to be made as the hearing progresses. As compulsory attendance cannot be requested under the current law, it will proceed as scheduled with witnesses such as Coupang's CISO."

According to the National Assembly Testimony Appraisal Act, a request to attend a hearing can be made regardless of nationality or residence (Article 5). Failure to appear without a justifiable reason is subject to criminal punishment (Article 12), and the National Assembly may report the person who failed to appear to the investigative agency (Article 15).

However, an accompanying order (Article 6) can be issued to the person concerned to force attendance, but the accompanying order is limited to the National Assembly inspection. In fact, this hearing will be reduced to the attendance of Harold Rogers, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Coupang Inc, and Brat Metis, Coupang CISO, who are the 'interim representatives for the 7th day'.

Of course, Chairman Kim and others can express their intention to attend by resolving the reason for non-attendance. A statement of reasons for a witness's non-appearance must be submitted at least 3 days prior to the hearing, but there is no deadline for the intent to appear. However, according to the National Assembly, there has never been a case like this so far.

Jang Ji-woon, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm, said, "Even if criminal charges are filed for non-attendance, it is unclear whether a proper investigation can be conducted against foreigners residing abroad," and added, "We can only hope that Chairman Kim himself will arbitrarily appear depending on public opinion pressure or political judgment."

In a situation where there is no cooperation in response to requests for submission of data after the Coupang incident, pressure is expected to be put on the political world as a whole for 'criminal offenses' due to the three key people's intention to not appear.

According to the National Assembly Bill Information System, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Man-hee and others on this day proposed a partial amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act that stipulates that the current law (Article 64), which stipulates the standard for imposing fines for personal information leaks as 'less than 3/100 of total sales', should be raised to 6/100 of sales compared to major countries such as the United States.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Beom-gye and others also proposed expanding the scope of group lawsuits (Article 51) and introducing fines for repetitive and serious personal information infringement incidents that allow for fines to be imposed within the range of 10% of total sales (Article 64-2 (2) Newly established). People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon and others also proposed an amendment aimed at clarifying the responsibilities of representatives and strengthening the role of the personal information protection manager (Article 31). It was proposed.

In a statement on the 14th, the National Defense Committee members including Choi Min-hee, Kim Hyun, Kim Woo-young, Noh Jong-myeon, Lee Joo-hee, Lee Jeong-heon, Lee Hoon-ki, Jeong Dong-young, Jo In-cheol, Han Min-soo, and Hwang Jeong-ah said, "The 'reason for the failure of the three Coupang witnesses' to appear cannot be condoned as an act of deceiving the Korean people." They added, "Chairman Kim 'resides abroad', former Representative Kang 'is not in a responsible position', and former Representative Park They cited ‘health reasons’ and criticized it as arrogance that ignores the people and an act that cuts off trust with the people.”

He said, “We will immediately push for legislation to prevent recurrence, including strengthening governance responsibilities, strengthening attendance obligations, and establishing a response system for those responsible for staying abroad.”

Park Soo-hyun, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, met with reporters after the Supreme Committee meeting that day and said, "We hope that the actual founder will make a responsible statement to the public, but the party, along with the public, is angry at the fact that he has been avoiding it for over 10 years. However, as far as I know, there is no means of enforcing it within the current National Assembly system. The party will do its best to address the damage caused by the Coupang issue, including these aspects, and to ensure that measures are taken from the source."

Reporter Kim Myeong-shin (lila@news1.kr), Reporter Cho So-young (cho11757@news1.kr)

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Coupang 'half' hearing missing the key... What is the future direction of the political world's 'sin of shame' (link)