Harold Rodgers, the interim CEO of Coupang’s Korean enterprise, speaks at a Nationwide Meeting listening to on the e-commerce big’s large leak of buyer information on Dec. 17, 2025. (Kim Gyoung-ho/Hankyoreh)
“The place is Bom Kim proper now?” — Rep. Hwang Jung-a, of the Democratic Celebration
“I’m sorry that I don’t converse Korean.” — Harold Rogers, Coupang’s new interim CEO
Rogers was showing earlier than the Nationwide Meeting’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee a few large leak of private info at Coupang, the Korean e-commerce big.
Within the absence of Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk, who goes by Bom Kim in America and serves because the chairman of the retailer’s US-based mother or father firm Coupang Inc., the corporate was represented by the newly put in interim CEO, Harold Rogers. When Rogers was requested about Kim’s whereabouts, he apologized for not having the ability to converse Korean and checked whether or not his solutions had been being interpreted correctly.
After repeated failures to immediately reply questions regardless of the interpreter sitting subsequent to him, Hwang stated, “I feel that is all a deliberate ploy to reply evasively. I feel you’ve made up your thoughts to feed us a bunch of non sequiturs.”
The scenario performed out equally when opposition lawmakers had an opportunity to reply questions.
When Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the minor Reform Celebration requested Rogers to briefly tackle why Kim hadn’t proven up for the listening to, Rogers made the next response in English: “Thanks for the query, and I respect the chance to be right here immediately and reply questions and to reply to this committee and to the Nationwide Meeting. I’m deeply sorry for the priority that we’ve created for the Korean individuals. As you might be conscious, I’m now the CEO of Coupang Korea, and so I’m right here to reply any and all questions.”
Rogers was evidently making an attempt to expire the clock together with his professional forma response.
Lee was nonplused by what he described as a “meaningless nonanswer,” whereas Rep. Choi Min-hee, the Democrat who chairs the committee, requested the Coupang CEO to “please skip the pleasantries.”
It was an unsurprising efficiency.
On the outset of the listening to, Rogers stated, via an interpreter, that he doesn’t converse any Korean apart from a couple of easy greetings.
Attending the identical listening to was Brett Matthes, Coupang’s chief info safety officer. Matthes stated via an interpreter that he is aware of a smattering of Korean phrases (equivalent to “mother-in-law,” “brother-in-law,” “spouse,” and “howdy”) however not sufficient to grasp what the lawmakers had been discussing.
“Kim [Bom-suk] is making a mockery of the Korean individuals when he claims he can’t present up [for hearings at the National Assembly] as a result of he’s a world CEO. It’s a cowardly try and go the buck by trotting out these foreigners who don’t converse the native language,” remarked Rep. Choi Hyung-du of the Individuals Energy Celebration.
Following the morning listening to, Rep. Noh Jong-myung of the Democratic Celebration posted a display seize on Fb displaying he had deleted his Coupang account together with the caption: “We noticed proper via their ploy to permit Kim Bom-suk, the proprietor of Coupang, to cover whereas unexpectedly swapping out its CEO with a foreigner. The listening to bought nowhere.”
Park Chang-jin, a senior spokesperson for the Democratic Celebration, gave a briefing later that day.
“At the moment’s listening to, which consisted of issues like ‘I can say howdy in Korean,’ and ‘I can’t perceive what the lawmakers are asking,’ was calculated farce meant on hiding behind the necessity for interpretation to purchase time and dance round the true challenge,” the spokesperson stated.
“This did nothing to alleviate the anger felt by Koreans — removed from it. Certainly, it has solely added to mistrust and anger,” Park stated.
By Music Gyung-hwa, employees reporter
Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]
