NIS Rebuts Allegations Related to Coupang in U.S. House Report

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has directly rebutted the contents of a report on Coupang released by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. In a statement on the 2nd, the NIS described Coupang’s claims as “onesided false allegations,” and denied the report’s assertion that excessive directives were given during the investigation. The NIS explained that it viewed a largescale information leak by a foreign national as a threat to national security and worked with Coupang to prevent the damage from spreading. It also said that the materials it provided to Coupang were part of information already submitted to the police, and that its suggestion of a specific domestic cybersecurity company was also information shared at Coupang’s request. In addition, it stressed that the NIS did not take the lead in the process of retrieving the IT equipment of the suspect who fled to China or in bringing it back to South Korea. The NIS added that it believed the equipment could contain a large amount of personal information, and that it only supported secure transportation to prevent loss or theft.