Exclusive
Qoo10 CEO Ku Young-bae, Facing Trial Over 'Tmon-WeMakePrice' Crisis, Spotted at KCCW Office

[비즈한국] Court trials regarding the Tmon and WeMakePrice (T-Wemep) non-payment crisis are set to begin in earnest starting this month. Qoo10 Group CEO Ku Young-bae, who was not required to attend the preliminary hearings, must personally appear in court once the formal trials commence. Seeking to hear CEO Ku's stance ahead of the trial, Bizhankook visited the KCCW office, but CEO Ku hurriedly left the premises, avoiding any response.

“Difficult to comment due to upcoming trial”

The trial for Qoo10 CEO Ku Young-bae and others regarding the T-Wemep crisis is scheduled for the 8th. CEO Ku is accused of fraud—conspiring with WeMakePrice CEO Ryu Hwa-hyun and Tmon CEO Ryu Kwang-jin to misappropriate approximately 1.85 trillion won in merchant settlement funds during the massive non-payment crisis that began in July last year. CEO Ku, along with Ryu Kwang-jin, Ryu Hwa-hyun, and seven other related individuals, has been indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust).

The trials are scheduled to proceed every two weeks. The trial on the 22nd will involve presentations from both the defense and prosecution to hear their respective positions, followed by witness examinations. Scheduled witnesses include Qxpress CFO Mark Lee, Shin Jeong-kwon, chairman of the "Black Umbrella Emergency Committee" (a coalition of T-Wemep victims), and representatives from affected businesses.

CEO Ku Young-bae did not attend the second preliminary hearing held on March 18. Defendants are not legally obligated to attend preliminary hearings. However, once the formal trial begins, CEO Ku must personally appear in court.

It has been confirmed that CEO Ku is reporting to work at the KCCW office ahead of his trial. Bizhankook visited the KCCW office on Teheran-ro in Seoul on the 1st and encountered CEO Ku while he was working. Dressed in a dark gray suit, CEO Ku offered a slight bow when reporters requested an interview before avoiding the area. A company official stated, "It is difficult for (the CEO) to express a position as the trial is coming up soon."

KCCW is a new entity established by CEO Ku in August last year. At the time, Qoo10 announced it had applied to establish KCCW as a platform to merge Tmon and WeMakePrice, contributing 999.9999 million won in founding capital. The intent was to normalize the business by leading the merger of Tmon and WeMakePrice under the KCCW entity. At the time of its founding, KCCW caused controversy by planning to have sellers who were victims of the T-Wemep crisis participate as major shareholders.

Wish Korea posts new job openings… “For operating the US site”

KCCW shares the same address as Wish Korea. The two companies are effectively sharing the 306-square-meter (approx. 90-pyeong) office. Wish Korea is the Korean branch of Wish, a shopping platform owned by the Qoo10 Group. Qoo10 acquired the global e-commerce platform Wish in February 2024. The acquisition of Wish is cited as a primary cause of the T-Wemep crisis, as Qoo10 aggressively tapped into affiliate funds to finance the purchase, triggering the non-payment fallout.

ContextLogic, the previous operator of Wish, established a Korean entity called "ContextLogic Korea Co., Ltd." in 2020 to operate domestic services. Following the Wish acquisition, Qoo10 appointed Qoo10 Technology CEO Kim Hyo-jong as a director at ContextLogic Korea. However, in December last year, after the T-Wemep crisis erupted, the company changed its name to Wish Korea and replaced the representative with Director Ku Hee-jin.

After acquiring Wish, Qoo10 rebranded its global customer website, Qoo10.com, to "Wish+" to operate it. However, in August last year, after the T-Wemep crisis, it reverted the branding back to Qoo10.com. Currently, Qoo10.com is also not in operation.

Recently, however, moves suggesting a potential domestic business restart were spotted when Wish Korea posted new job openings. Last month, Wish Korea announced through a recruitment site that it was hiring global e-commerce merchandisers (MDs). The job description stated that the primary duties would involve product planning and operations for the Wish online shopping mall.

Bizhankook asked Wish Korea whether they were resuming global platform business in Korea, but a company official clarified, "We are not launching Wish+. This hiring is for the operation of the US-based Wish shopping mall." Regarding why KCCW and Wish Korea share the same address, they replied, "They are not the same company. We are simply lending office space to Wish Korea."

Meanwhile, Wish Korea had originally planned to keep the job posting up until the 18th, but the posting was removed following Bizhankook's inquiry.