Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
'Coupang issue persisting longer than expected,' Korea's top envoy to US says
Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha answers questions from reporters at Government Complex Seoul, Wednesday, before meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha said the conflict between Seoul and Washington over the U.S.-headquartered e-commerce firm Coupang's data breach last year is persisting longer than expected.
She made the remarks on Wednesday before meeting Foreign Minister Cho Hyun at the ministry headquarters in Seoul, after Cho requested her to come to Korea to discuss various bilateral issues affecting relations between the two countries.
As such a request for in-person discussion is unusual, her visit has brought about speculation that the Coupang issue and other bilateral matters may require deep coordination between Korea and the U.S.
When asked about the pressure coming from the U.S. with regard to Korea's handling of its Coupang investigation, Kang told reporters, “This issue is dragging on much longer than I expected," adding that Korea is managing the issue on its own while continuing to discuss other matters across various levels and on multiple fronts.
“Bilateral relations between Seoul and Washington are intertwined, which means the two have many issues to be handled. The perspectives of people in Washington can differ from those of people in Seoul, so I’ve returned to Seoul to bridge the gap between the two,” Kang said.
Her visit came after U.S. Republican lawmakers and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee criticized what they called Korean authorities' "unfair treatment" of Coupang, which had been under investigation in relation to a data breach involving 33.7 million member accounts.
The U.S. House committee issued a report earlier this month accusing Korea of "discriminatory attacks" on Coupang, even after Korean government officials had said the issue was under control.
Speculation mounted that Kang’s meeting with Cho signals that talks with Washington are proving tougher than expected.
Opposition parties say relations between Korea and the U.S. as in disharmony due to the government’s mishandling of diplomatic issues, including Coupang.
Some, however, see Kang's visit to the foreign ministry as a routine meeting with a top diplomat to discuss pending issues and diplomatic strategies.
A foreign ministry official emphasized that Kang’s trip to Seoul was not triggered by any specific diplomatic tension between Seoul and Washington.
"Kang's return wasn’t triggered by any single, specific incident. It serves as an opportunity for the ministry and the diplomatic chief in the field to put their heads together and discuss our shared interests and the various pending issues in the Korea-U.S. alliance," a foreign ministry official said.