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.
Korean American activist warns Seoul against escalating Coupang row
Kim Dong-suk, executive committee chair of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, speaks during a forum titled “The midterm election in the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula in 2026" at the Press Center in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
Grassroots advocate sees Trump-Kim summit chances '50-50'
A Korean American civic activist urged Seoul on Wednesday to avoid escalating its dispute with Coupang and quietly seek a resolution, warning that turning a corporate controversy into a bilateral confrontation with Washington could ultimately undermine South Korea’s national interests.
“Regarding Coupang disputes with the United States, a corporate dispute has escalated into an inter-state conflict. The more South Korea stirs this up, the worse its position becomes — especially with an administration driven by an 'America First' agenda focused on protecting U.S. interests,” said Kim Dong-suk, executive committee chair of the Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC), during “The midterm election in the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula in 2026” forum hosted by the Kwanhun Club.
“For the sake of the South Korean national interest, this needs to be buried as quickly as possible.”
He argued that many U.S. lawmakers weighing in on the Coupang controversy have only a limited understanding of the company and are often influenced by lobbying efforts that portray American companies as being unfairly treated abroad.
"Uninformed U.S. lawmakers weigh in at every opportunity, operating on the presumption that American firms are being discriminated against in South Korea... Not only by reaching out to U.S. government officials such as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, South Korea should also make outreach to lawmakers and governors and explain the situation so that a Coupang-like conflict never happens in the future,” he said.
The remarks came as the conflict surrounding Coupang, the U.S.-headquartered e-commerce giant that generates most of its revenue in South Korea, has emerged as a growing source of friction between Seoul and Washington. Republican lawmakers and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee criticized what they describe as unfair treatment of Coupang by South Korean authorities. The company is under investigation over a data breach involving 33.7 million customer accounts and faces a series of potential penalties under South Korean law.
Kim said the fallout could extend beyond government-to-government relations and place the Korean American community in a difficult position.
“People like us — the Korean American community — will have nowhere to stand if these conflicts continue,” he added.
Kim Dong-suk, third from left, executive committee chair of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, speaks during a forum titled “The midterm election in the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula in 2026" at the Press Center, Seoul, Wednesday with other penalists. Courtesy of Kwanhun Club
Pointing to a shift in Washington where security and trade issues are now tightly intertwined under the Trump administration, the activist urged Seoul to negotiate individual issues separately while presenting successful outcomes as joint achievements between allies rather than zero-sum wins.
“If Democrats take the House of Representatives while Republicans hold the Senate during the November midterm election, President Trump’s power won't simply diminish — it will transform. While his power as a legislative president who crafts laws will wane, his authority as an executive president who commands, enforces, vetoes and litigates could actually grow stronger,” he said, adding that Trump is likely to make extensive use of avenues that fall outside congressional control.
In a related move, he noted that Trump would likely rely more heavily on executive orders and summit diplomacy, making direct leader-to-leader engagement even more central to his foreign policy, with reaching out to North Korea as part of that strategy.
“I suspect Trump has business-related motives with North Korea. During the Singapore summit, he showed video footage to Kim Jong-un pitching the tourism and real estate potential of the Wonsan area like a developer marketing houses," Kim said, referencing CIA Director John Ratcliffe's recent unannounced trip to Moscow for high-level talks.
Kim estimated the chances of a Kim-Trump summit at roughly 50-50, noting that U.S. policy in Northeast Asia could undergo a major shift if Washington strikes a deal with North Korea and resolves its stance on the nuclear issue — a top foreign policy agenda for the Trump administration.
Born in Gangwon Province, Kim immigrated to the U.S. in 1985 and graduated from the City University of New York. After the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Kim was convinced that the Korean American community needed a stronger voice in mainstream politics and began working as a community activist. Founded in 2013, KAGC is the largest nationwide network of Korean American voters in the U.S.