The presidential office said Coupang acted inappropriately by publicly releasing the results of its internal investigation into a recent massive data breach.

A presidential office official told KBS on Thursday that it was unreasonable for a party under active investigation to disclose investigative findings, stressing that Coupang had no authority to make such an announcement.

Earlier in the day, Coupang said in a press release that it had identified and contacted the individual responsible for the breach and secured all related data and devices.

The company said the individual accessed information on 33 million customers but saved data from only about three thousand accounts, adding that it had obtained a statement confirming the data was neither transmitted externally nor further shared.

In response, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Coupang’s claims have not been verified by the joint public‑private investigation team and noted that it had formally protested the company’s unilateral disclosure of information related to an ongoing probe.