"Coupang Class Action in the U.S. Surpasses 1,000 Participants... Anyone Who Has Ordered Can Join"

Daeryun Law Firm Leads Class Action Lawsuit
"Compensation Expected to Be Much More Realistic Than in Korea"

A class action lawsuit is being pursued in the United States against Coupang, which recently experienced a massive data breach affecting as many as 33.7 million cases of personal information. Daeryun, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, announced that the number of participants in the lawsuit has already exceeded 1,000, and that anyone who has ever placed an order on Coupang is eligible to join the suit.

Son Donghu, an attorney at SJKP, Daeryun’s U.S. affiliate, stated on CBS Radio’s “Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show” on December 10, “We will file a consumer class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Coupang Inc., the parent company of Coupang Korea, as well as COUPANG inc and INC, in connection with this personal information leak incident.” He added, “Coupang Inc. is a corporation based in Delaware, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and it holds 100% of the shares in Coupang Korea.”

Kim Gukil, CEO of Daeryun Management, held a press conference on the 8th (local time) at the Manhattan office in New York to explain the lawsuit plan against Coupang Inc., the parent company of Coupang. Photo by Yonhap News

When asked by the host whether only U.S. citizens could participate in the lawsuit, he responded, “The residence of the victims does not matter. Those residing in Korea, as well as those living outside Korea, can participate in the U.S. federal court lawsuit if they have suffered damages.” Regarding the amount of compensation, he said, “It is difficult to specify an exact figure,” but added, “I can say that the compensation amount is much more realistic compared to Korea.”

Kim Gukin, Chief Operating Officer of Daeryun, said in an interview with MBC Radio on the same day, “As of the press conference yesterday, there were about 200 participants in the lawsuit, but the number has already surpassed 1,000.” Kim stated, “Anyone who has ever placed an order on Coupang can participate in this lawsuit. In the U.S., there is an ‘opt-out’ system, so even if someone is not a named plaintiff, they will receive compensation according to the judgment unless they explicitly waive their rights. However, there may be differences in compensation between those who participate directly as plaintiffs and those who do not.”

Regarding the reason for pursuing the damages lawsuit in the United States rather than Korea, he explained, “In Korea, damages are awarded only after proving the existence of harm and only for the harm itself. In the United States, damages also have a punitive aspect. When a company causes harm through anti-social business practices, compensation is awarded not only for the damage itself but also as retribution for the misconduct that caused the harm. This serves as a deterrent to prevent such incidents in the future.”

He continued, “What I want from this lawsuit is to utilize the discovery process. This would allow us to obtain emails, reports, meeting materials, and board decisions exchanged between Coupang’s U.S. headquarters and Coupang Korea. This information is likely to be more reliable and extensive than what could be uncovered through investigations in Korea. If there are materials related to corporate security system management, we would like to secure them as well.”