Court Suspends Coupang's '201.1 Billion Won Fine'... "Risk of Irreparable Harm"

Personal Information Protection Commission's fine and corrective order suspended
Suspension to remain in effect until 30 days after first-instance ruling in underlying case
"No serious impact on public interest"

The effect of a fine in the 200 billion won range imposed on Coupang over allegations that it collected and used the online activity records of more than 11 million users without authorization has been suspended.

A massive personal data breach affecting more than 30 million people occurred at Coupang. The number exceeds South Korea's economically active population of 29.69 million, making it the worst data breach on record. The photo shows Coupang's headquarters on Dec. 1, 2025. Photo by Yoon Dongju.

The Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 1, presided over by Judge Yang Sang-yoon, on Nov. 6 granted Coupang's request to suspend the enforcement of the fine and the corrective and public notice orders imposed by the Personal Information Protection Commission.

As a result, the effects of the 201.106 billion won fine imposed on Coupang, the corrective order and the public notice order will be suspended until 30 days after the first-instance ruling in the main lawsuit seeking to overturn the fine and other measures is delivered.

The court said, "It has been shown that the measures in this case could cause the applicant irreparable harm and that there is an urgent need to suspend their effects to prevent such harm."

It also found that the case did not involve a risk that suspending the measures would seriously harm the public interest, nor was it clear that the applicant's claims in the main lawsuit lacked merit.

The Personal Information Protection Commission previously imposed a fine of 201.106 billion won on Coupang in September, saying the company had collected and used the online activity records of about 11.17 million users without a legal basis. Coupang challenged the measure, filing a lawsuit to have it overturned and requesting a suspension of enforcement.

The decision temporarily suspends the effects of the fine and other measures. A final ruling on whether the measures were lawful will be made in the main lawsuit.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.