240,000 victims of Coupang data leak sue company

A coupang delivery truck. (Yonhap)

A little under a quarter million victims of a mass data breach at e-commerce giant Coupang have filed a compensation claim, a local broadcaster reported Friday.

According to MBN, the victims submitted the documents for the lawsuit to the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday. They have requested 100,000 won ($67.7) each for damages caused and later plan to increase the requested amount to 300,000 won, or 72 billion won total.

The victims told the broadcaster that the attitude of Coupang officials in a recent parliamentary hearing had infuriated them, saying they appeared to lack the will to resolve the issue.

Thousands of Coupang users are participating in a US class-action lawsuit against Coupang Inc., the parent company of the Korean e-commerce company, over the massive data leak.

The data breach is thought to have leaked personal information related to around 33 million Coupang users between June and November this year. Though Coupang CEO Harold Rogers told the National Assembly that the company "sincerely feels strongly about the concern that we have caused," company founder Bom Kim has remained silent about the incident.

Asked about Coupang's filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Rogers said the company had no legal obligation to do so, as the data leak did not violate US privacy law.