Shouldn’t leaders take responsibility for their actions? While this may seem obvious to many, apparently the leadership of Coupang does not agree with this mindset. Instead of dealing with the aftermath of two significant domestic scandals, Kim Beom-seok, the founder and chairman of Coupang, has resigned from all his positions at Coupang Korea to take on a new position in the United States. 

First of all, Coupang’s “Rocket Delivery” service has led to cases of workers dying due to stress and overwork. “Rocket Delivery” is a delivery system where the goods and services are delivered within a day. Rocket Delivery’s popularity has soared by 91% due to COVID-19, but this has put an incredible strain on Coupang’s employees. In addition to deaths related to Rocket Delivery, there was recently a huge fire at a Coupang factory, which sadly killed a firefighter.

When these sorts of issues occur, usually the company’s leadership gets in trouble for their irresponsibility. However, Kim Beom-seok has chosen to avoid taking responsibility in Korea by relocating abroad to focus on Coupang’s international business. Due to Kim’s actions, many members of society were enraged and started a boycott against Coupang. Many Coupang employees have decided to quit their jobs, and members of the general public have started to post “#withdrawalfromcoupang” on social media in opposition to the company. According to daily news Korea, “After the boycott, there were about 17 million posts about the #withdrawalfromcoupang on social media, and it reached the most popular topic online“. Coupang has been struggling because of its founder who just decided to leave the company to avoid blame. True leaders should take full responsibility for their company’s shortcomings, even if that means that they will be blamed personally. 

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