Out of a total of more than 600 billion won in fines imposed on Coupang by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) for reasons including personal data leakage, the enforcement of approximately 200 billion won in penalties has been suspended.
The enforcement of the remaining 400 billion won in penalties has been maintained as originally ordered.
The 1st Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Yang Sang-yun) granted Coupang's application for a stay of execution on November 6, seeking to suspend the enforcement of a 201.1 billion won fine as well as corrective and public announcement orders issued by the PIPC.
The enforcement of these measures will be suspended until 30 days after the date of the sentencing of the first-instance trial for the primary lawsuit, which requests the cancellation of the fines and other related dispositions.
In June of this year, the PIPC resolved to issue the measures after confirming violations in which Coupang allegedly collected without authorization the online activity records of approximately 11.17 million members who accessed third-party websites and apps, and stored them in a database while keeping individual users identifiable.
The court explained that it was demonstrated that the PIPC's measures risk causing irreparable damage to Coupang, and that there is an urgent necessity to suspend their enforcement to prevent such damage.
The court also pointed out that this case does not fall under circumstances where the suspension of enforcement would risk having a serious adverse effect on the public welfare, nor does it appear evident that the applicant's primary claims lack legal grounds.
Coupang also filed a lawsuit contesting a separate fine of 423.6 billion won imposed in connection with the leakage of personal data of approximately 37.5 million individuals, but yesterday another court dismissed the related application for a stay of execution.
Yesterday, the 4th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Kim Young-min) maintained the enforcement of the disposition, stating that the damage Coupang would suffer from the PIPC's penalty of over 400 billion won appears capable of being restored to its original state through monetary compensation.
However, regarding the corrective and public announcement orders simultaneously issued by the PIPC at the time, the court suspended their enforcement until 30 days after the sentencing of the primary lawsuit, citing the risk of irreparable damage to Coupang.
The corrective orders focus on measures such as strengthening safety procedures to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents, notifying data subjects who are not members of the leak, and ensuring the practical role of the chief privacy officer.
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