The National Assembly has rebuked interim Coupang CEO Harold Rogers, taking issue with his attitude at a parliamentary hearing and accusing him of perjury.
On Wednesday, the second day of the hearing on the recent data breach at the e-commerce giant, ruling Democratic Party(DP) Rep. Hwang Jung-a slammed Rogers for what she said was false testimony in parliament the previous day.
Hwang said Rogers lied when he claimed the company made contact with the former employee behind the data breach upon instructions from South Korea’s state spy agency, citing a statement from the National Intelligence Service(NIS) during Tuesday’s hearing that no such instructions were given.
Rogers told the lawmakers on Tuesday that the company had not wanted to make contact with the ex-employee, but the spy agency had repeatedly asked it to do so.
The NIS, for its part, asked the Assembly to file a complaint against Rogers for perjury.
DP Reps. Kim Young-bae and Chung Il-young demanded that Rogers apologize to the South Korean people for what they called his arrogant behavior the day before, noting that at times he’d raised his voice or thumped the desk while speaking.
Rogers said he has a deep respect for the South Korean parliament and that not all of his responses from the day before were interpreted accurately.