South Korea fines Coupang record $409 million for data breach

A South Korean regulator fined the country’s largest e-commerce platform, owned by U.S.-listed Coupang Inc., a record 624.7 billion won ($409 million) for a wide-ranging cyber-intrusion that escalated into a diplomatic tiff with the US.

The Personal Information Protection Commission’s fine for Coupang Corp.—the company’s South Korean entity—is the biggest-ever levied by the country over a personal data breach since a 134.8 billion won penalty on SK Telecom Co. last year. Under Korean regulations, the regulator can impose fines of up to 3% of annual sales.

“This incident was caused not by a sophisticated hacking method, but by Coupang’s inadequate basic safety management system and negligent management,” said Kyung Hee Song, the chairperson of the regulator. “The company grew rapidly by using large-scale........

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