Coupang, Talpang, Galpang

I am really angry. I tried to finally quit Coupang this time, but the procedure is anything but simple. Deleting your Coupang account“talpang,” in social-media shorthandcan only be done on a PC. On the mobile app, you must tap “My Coupang,” select “Edit Member Information,” choose the PC version, and then go through a total of six steps including “identity verification,” “usage history confirmation,” and a “survey.” In the survey, you must give a free-response answer to “What you expect from Coupang.” Even after getting this far, you then have to move the mouse up and down several times and find the “withdraw” button at the very bottom of the page for it to be finished. At this point, it is practically a maze. No wonder all kinds of communities are sharing how to “leave Coupang,” and even the broadcasting, media and communications regulator has launched an urgent fact-finding probe.

For the public, the information leak at Coupang, the industry’s number one, was like a bolt from the blue. Account deletions are following one after another, and users engaging in “galpang,” switching to competing platforms, are also increasing. Consumer groups have declared a boycott, and class-action lawsuits have entered full swing.

Even if people hastily delete saved cards and accounts and the shared-entrance password to their building, the unease does not go away. We thought Rocket Delivery, arriving at dawn, was free, but realizing that in return we handed over our personal details and even our daily patterns intact makes our hearts sink. Even so, the global investment bank JP Morgan on the 1st (local time) predicted that customer attrition would be limited. It said this is because Coupang holds an irreplaceable market position and Korean consumers are less sensitive to personal-information leak issues. We do not want to admit it, but like getting soaked in a drizzle, we have slipped into Coupang’s “ppalli-ppalli” speed trap, so JP Morgan’s analysis is not wrong.

That is why, even after the mega-leak, Coupang has not apologized properly, has acted brazenly, and has been slow to respond at every turn. Founder Kim Beom-seok, chair of Coupang Inc.’s board, has declined to comply with National Assembly appearance requests whenever social controversy erupted, citing his U.S. nationality. How lightly must they regard Korean consumers to behave like this.

Calls to punish Coupang are growing louder. The creator of the Naver cafe “Coupang Personal-Information Leak Class Action” said, “Let us show the power of the consumers whom Coupang ignores.” It may feel as though we cannot live without Coupang, but there are plenty of other platforms with systems that rival Rocket Delivery. We must ensure that the “distribution dinosaur” that cares only about profit can no longer throw its weight around.