Coupang’s Rogers considers testifying over Korea’s ‘discriminatory’ practices

Coupang interim CEO Harold Rogers is considering whether to appear before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee after Republican lawmakers ordered him to testify over what they describe as Seoul’s “targeting” of the Seattle-headquartered e-commerce firm and other American companies.

He was also asked to provide all records of communications between Coupang and Korean authorities.

In a letter sent to Coupang's interim CEO Harold Rogers on Thursday (local time), Reps. Jim Jordan and Scott Fitzgerald requested he appear for a deposition with the committee to answer questions related to the Korean government’s targeting of Coupang and other innovative American companies. The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 23.

"Over the past few months, the KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission) and other agencies within the Korean government have escalated their discriminatory attacks on American technology companies, including by threatening U.S. citizens with criminal charges," the letter read.

"The targeting of Coupang and the potential prosecution of its American executives serve as a sharp escalation of South Korea’s campaign against innovative American-owned companies and directly conflicts with its recent commitment to avoid discriminatory treatment and the creation of unnecessary barriers for U.S. digital service providers."

The U.S. politicians said American firms in Korea have been subject to “punitive obligations, excessive fines and discriminatory enforcement practices,” claiming these measures are intended to “protect their Korean rivals from competition.”

Coupang said Rogers will decide whether to appear once he formally receives a subpoena. If he refuses, he could be indicted for contempt of Congress.

"Coupang will fully cooperate with the U.S. House Judiciary Committee investigation, including production of documents and witness testimony as required by the subpoena," a Coupang spokesperson said.

Even before Coupang came under Korean investigation over last year’s massive data leak that affected more than 33 million users, the Donald Trump administration and U.S. politicians had complained about the KFTC's attempts to legislate proposed regulations on monopolistic online platforms, saying the law — similar to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act — could benefit Chinese companies.

Since the U.S. intensified tariff pressure on Korea following the probe into Coupang, there have been concerns that the issue could negatively affect trade talks between the two countries.

Amid growing U.S. pressure, Korean police ordered Rogers to appear for questioning again on Friday, following his previous appearance on Jan. 30. Police will reportedly question him over perjury allegations related to his parliamentary testimony last December.

Rogers told lawmakers during a National Assembly hearing that the company had conducted its own probe into a Chinese national suspected of involvement in the data breach and confiscated the suspect's laptop at the instruction of the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The spy agency has denied the claim.

On Thursday, the e-commerce firm texted its users to notify them of its latest discovery of a data leak involving personal information from more than 165,000 customer accounts. The company said the latest data leak is not a new case but was found to be connected to the earlier incident.