The public interest whistleblower who exposed allegations that Coupang compiled a blacklist of former employees has been referred to the prosecution.

Although Coupang withdrew its complaint, the investigation continued, and a decision to forward the case was reached after about two years.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency forwarded Kim Jun-ho, a former employee of Coupang Fulfillment Services, to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office without detention yesterday (October 21) on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

Kim is accused of accessing internal servers and other systems to check Coupang's blacklist information.

Previously, Coupang filed a complaint against Kim in 2024 on charges including occupational breach of trust, but police recognized only the charge of violating the Information and Communications Network Act.

The list exposed by Kim is the so-called "PNG List" compiled by Coupang Fulfillment Services, which operates Coupang's logistics centers.

Named after the diplomatic term meaning "Persona Non Grata," it is a type of blacklist that Coupang was suspected of operating from September 2017 for about six years to restrict the re-employment of 16,450 workers who had worked at its logistics centers.

The list contained personal information such as workers' real names, contact numbers, work IDs, and reasons for employment restrictions.

Kim, who was working in the HR team at a regional center at the time, made the existence of this list public in February 2024.

As the controversy grew, Coupang explained that it was "normal human resources evaluation data" intended to prevent the re-employment of individuals who caused trouble through theft or other misconduct.

However, the controversy intensified further as it was revealed that the list even included reporters who had critically reported on Coupang's working environment.

Following this, Coupang filed a complaint against Kim with the police.

Then, in January of last year, during a National Assembly hearing, Coupang apologized regarding the allegations of blacklist creation and withdrew its complaint against Kim.

At the time, Coupang Fulfillment Services CEO Jung Jong-chul stated, "We are sorry for the part where personal information was collected too extensively."

However, the charge applied to Kim is not an offense subject to prosecution only upon complaint, which requires a formal complaint to punish, so the police investigation continued even after the complaint was withdrawn.

In the end, the police referred Kim to the prosecution on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act.

A separate investigation is currently underway at the Seoul Songpa Police Station regarding whether Coupang's creation of the blacklist itself violated the Labor Standards Act and the Personal Information Protection Act.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Eui-sun | Graphics by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News