Coupang Korea CEO Rogers returns home after 12-hour first police questioning, stays silent on reporters’ questions

According to The Financial News, Harold Rogers, the interim head of Coupang Korea Corporation who is suspected of destroying evidence through a “self-investigation” into Coupang Inc.’s massive personal data leak, returned home after undergoing about 12 hours of questioning.
Based on reporting by The Financial News on the 31st, the Coupang Investigation Task Force of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) summoned Rogers as a suspect and questioned him from around 2:00 p.m. the previous day until about 2:22 a.m. that morning. This came roughly one month after the task force was launched on the 1st of last month.
After completing the questioning, Rogers left with a stern expression, declining to answer reporters’ questions such as whether he admitted to destroying evidence, whether he had explained the basis for claiming that only about 3,000 cases of data were actually leaked, whether it was true that he had acted under instructions from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), whether he planned to leave the country immediately, and whether he had anything to say to Korean consumers.
The questioning was conducted using a dual-interpretation system, in which Rogers brought his own personal interpreter while also using the police interpreter. This significantly lengthened the time needed to verify his statements, and with Rogers agreeing to be questioned late into the night, the session ultimately continued past midnight.
Rogers is under investigation on charges including obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means, business interference, and destruction of evidence in connection with the internal self-investigation. Earlier, Coupang Inc. stated on the 25th of last month that it had identified a former employee in relation to the personal data leak and had retrieved all devices believed to have been used in the breach. While it was confirmed that 33.7 million customer accounts had been leaked without authorization, the company also announced, based on its own investigation, that the perpetrator had actually saved only about 3,000 data records. During this process, Coupang Inc. directly contacted the former employee of Chinese nationality, who had been identified as the suspect, without involving investigative authorities, obtained a statement from him, and claimed it had recovered the laptop allegedly used in the crime by deploying divers in a river in China.
Police are said to have pressed Rogers on why Coupang Inc. bypassed investigative authorities, contacted the former Chinese national employee—identified as the key suspect in the personal data leak—in China, retrieved his laptop, and conducted its own forensic analysis. As for the former employee, who has been named as the main suspect and holds Chinese nationality, investigators are continuing a joint investigation through the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
Previously, Rogers left the country on the 1st, immediately after attending a joint parliamentary hearing on Coupang at the National Assembly, and twice ignored police requests to appear for questioning.
On the 14th, he announced that he would comply with the third summons and returned to Korea on the 21st, a week later. In investigative practice, it is customary to seek an arrest warrant if a suspect fails to appear three or more times without a valid reason. Observers say the possibility that an arrest warrant could be requested after three or more refusals to appear may have influenced his decision to return.
Immediately after Rogers re-entered the country, police applied for a travel ban, but the prosecution service reportedly declined to approve it, taking into account that he had voluntarily returned to Korea and agreed to appear for questioning. As a result, there is speculation that once this round of questioning is completed, Rogers could leave again for the United States and thereby evade further investigation.
Before the questioning began, Rogers appeared at the photo line at around 1:54 p.m. the previous day and stated, “Coupang Inc. has fully cooperated with all government investigations and will continue to do so,” adding, “I will actively cooperate with the police investigation today as well.”
jyseo@fnnews.com Seo Ji-yoon Reporter