Coupang's headquarters in Seoul (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald)
Coupang's headquarters in Seoul (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald)

The head of e-commerce giant Coupang’s Taiwan operations has resigned less than a year after taking the role, industry sources said Wednesday, adding to uncertainty around the US-listed company’s high-growth overseas market.

Sandeep Karwa, a former executive at e-commerce company Flipkart, had led the Taiwan business from February until recently, with no further explanation for his exit. His departure comes as the company faces reputational and regulatory fallout in Korea, following a data breach that compromised the personal information of more than 33 million users.

Coupang said no data breaches had been detected in Taiwan, and local authorities were monitoring the situation. Taiwan is regarded as one of Coupang’s most critical overseas markets outside Korea, where the company has built out logistics infrastructure and broadened its customer base since 2022.

While Coupang has not announced a successor or interim replacement as of press time, Coupang Taiwan said day-to-day operations remain unaffected and reiterated its commitment to “long-term and stable growth” in the Taiwanese market.

The executive shake-up follows recent management changes in Korea. Park Dae-jun, who oversaw Coupang’s Korea operations, stepped down earlier this month and was replaced by Harold Rogers, the US-based parent company’s chief administrative officer.

On Tuesday, the Korean government held a Coupang-focused task force meeting aimed at preventing secondary harm to users and strengthening corporate accountability on data protection.

Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung warned that any legal violations uncovered during the probe would be met with strict measures. “The government will pursue accountability to the very end, until public concerns are fully resolved,” he said.


minmin@heraldcorp.com