Gu Gyeong-bae "I will accept legal punishment... Please give me a chance for 6 months"

Regarding the delay in payment settlements for sales on TMON and WEMAKEPRICE, Koo Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10, said, "Please give us a chance for just six months."

CEO Koo appeared on the 30th at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee for a hearing on the unsettled payment issue involving TMON and WEMAKEPRICE. This was his first public appearance in 22 days since the payment delay incident began at WEMAKEPRICE on the 8th.

Koo Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10 Group, is greeting at the urgent inquiry related to the 'Timon and Wemakeprice settlement and refund delay incident' held at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 30th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

When asked by reporters whether he believed 100% compensation for damages was possible, CEO Koo said, "It's not easy, but considering the nature of e-commerce, we can recover quickly," adding, "If we can effectively persuade on this matter, opportunities can open up, and I am confident. This is not about buying time."

He continued, "We accept all criticism and will naturally face legal consequences, including criminal penalties," but added, "However, we need some time; we are not asking for three years. Please give us just six months, and if you help us to turn things around a little, we will devote ourselves to this with utmost determination, not just trying to survive but to succeed."

CEO Koo explained that the deficits of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE stemmed from competition with other e-commerce rivals. He emphasized, "AliExpress, Temu, and Coupang are fiercely competing in business," and said, "Promotion costs should be shared, but we have been operating under a structure where we bear these costs ourselves, which has accumulated over time."

He added, "Business takes time. What we expected to take one month ended up taking two or three months, and these delays accumulated," but said, "However, I never once imagined it would collapse to this extent."

The WEMAKEPRICE and TMON incident arose on the 8th when WEMAKEPRICE delayed payment settlements to sellers. The government estimates the unsettled amount for TMON and WEMAKEPRICE to be approximately 210 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.