Coupang allegedly risks data breach by storing user data in China

The company argued its Chinese subsidiary does not store personal data.

Coupang is facing suspicion from an independent lawmaker that its customer data is being managed by a subsidiary in China where the government can get access, raising concerns on possible information leakage, Korea Bizwire reported.

Yang Jung-suk claimed that the company has stored and managed customer and location information through its Chinese subsidiary, Hallym Network, by transferring data collected from the Coupang app.

Yang stressed that the Chinese government could access such information anytime under current private information protection laws. Primarily due to such concerns, platforms such as Naver, Kakao, and Woowa Brothers are storing data in a third country instead.

Coupang dismissed the allegations, saying in a statement that its user data is stored in South Korea and it has never transferred or stored any personal information in China. Hallym Network is a tech subsidiary and the rumour that it stores user data through this subsidiary was completely groundless, it said.