Court grants stay on Coupang fine in 200-billion-won range; earlier request over 400 billion won rejected

[Financial News] Coupang, which was fined several hundred billion won by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), has won a stay of a fine in the 200-billion-won range after challenging the measure. It can temporarily avoid paying until the underlying lawsuit is decided. However, a separate fine in the 400-billion-won range is still subject to a rejected application for a stay.
According to legal sources on the 6th, Administrative Division 1 of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Judge Yang Sang-yoon, granted an application by Coupang Corporation to stay execution of the measure against the PIPC.
The panel ordered that the effects of the fine-imposition measure for 201.106 billion won, the corrective order, and the publication order issued by the PIPC after deliberation and a resolution on September 10 be suspended until the date falling 30 days after the judgment in the underlying case is handed down. Accordingly, enforcement of the fine, totaling 201.1 billion won and originally due by the 15th of last month, will be halted until the underlying judgment is handed down.
The panel said, “There is a risk that the effects of the measure will cause the applicant irreparable harm, and an urgent need to suspend those effects to prevent such harm has been established,” adding, “Nor does it appear that a suspension would risk seriously harming the public welfare or that the underlying claim is clearly without merit.”
However, a stay of execution of the fine in the 400-billion-won range over the “large-scale personal information leak” had earlier been denied. On the previous day, the 5th, Administrative Division 4 of the Seoul Administrative Court partially granted Coupang’s application to stay execution of sanctions in the 400-billion-won range. The effects of the corrective order, public disclosure, and the order to publish were suspended until 30 days after the underlying judgment is handed down, but the application to suspend the effect of the central measure—the imposition of a fine in the 400-billion-won range—was denied.
The dispute began when the PIPC issued sanctions against Coupang totaling in the 600-billion-won range. Coupang challenged the measures, filing an underlying lawsuit seeking to overturn the fine-imposition measure and other actions, and also applied for a stay of execution.
Legal experts say that fine-imposition measures, which generally require payment of money, are often not considered to cause “irreparable harm” because the money can be refunded if the company later wins its case. The assessment is that Administrative Division 1 granted the stay after weighing the impact that such a large sum—200 billion won—could have on the company’s operations, while Administrative Division 4 applied the strict requirements for staying monetary enforcement. Regardless of whether the measures’ effects are suspended, both cases are expected to see fierce courtroom battles before the panels hearing the underlying cases over the substantive legality of the measures.


[email protected] Lee Chang-hoon Reporter