Top South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang apologises over massive data breach

South Korea's biggest online retailer, Coupang, apologised on Sunday over the breach of personal information from 33.7 million customer accounts through unauthorized data access.



"We sincerely apologise once again for causing our customers inconvenience," Park Dae-jun, CEO of the firm dubbed the Amazon.com of South Korea, posted on its website.



The incident is the latest in a series of data leaks at major South Korean companies, including SK Telecom.



The government, which held an emergency meeting on Sunday, is looking into whether Coupang violated safety rules regarding personal information protection, said Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon.



Coupang said on Saturday that it learned of the data breach on November 18 and reported it to authorities. It said it was working with law enforcement and regulatory authorities.