Ongoing tension between Korea and Coupang over the U.S.-based e-commerce company's data leak incident, which has emerged as a major trade issue between Korea and the U.S., saw notable progress on Friday when Coupang founder Bom Kim made his first in-person apology over the incident. In a seminar in Washington, former American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) President Tami Overby advised Kim to visit Seoul and apologize to the public over the case, in which personal information of 33.67 million customers was compromised. “First, I want to apologize again for the concern and inconvenience the data incident has caused," Kim said in a conference call for Coupang investors in the U.S. Thursday (local time). "Everything we’ve built at Coupang has been driven by a single focus — wowing our customers. Our customers are the only reason we exist, and earning their trust is something we strive to do every single day.” It was his first in-person apology, although he had issued a written apology last December, about a month after the data breach was made public. Harold Rogers, Coupang K