Korea expresses regret over US House committee’s 'lopsided' Coupang report

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Il listens to a reporter's question during a regular press briefing at Government Complex Seoul, Thursday, during which he expressed regret over the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's report on Korea's "discrimination" against U.S. companies. Yonhap

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday rejected a report by U.S. lawmakers criticizing Korean authorities’ handling of Coupang regarding its customer data breach from last year, saying the report overlooked the company's violations of Korean law and only defended the U.S. firm.

The ministry said the House Judiciary Committee’s interim staff report released on the committee’s website on Wednesday (local time) had a half-eyed view toward the massive data breach discovered last November.

"We express regret that the report appears to reflect only Coupang's claims in a one-sided manner," ministry spokesperson Park Il said in a press briefing, saying that the Korean government has been “faithfully” transparent to the United States as to Korean authorities’ process of investigation over Coupang.

Park said all Korean investigations and measures regarding Coupang are being conducted lawfully and without discrimination in accordance with domestic laws, and that the government guarantees a fair corporate operating environment regardless of nationality.

“Therefore, the report's claim that the Korean government is subjecting Coupang to discriminatory investigations and unfair regulations is untrue," he added.

The foreign ministry said it plans to continue communicating with the U.S. regarding the Coupang issue.

“The Korean government will continue to contact the U.S. committee, Congress and Executive Branch to convey accurate information, while actively explaining that our government is faithfully implementing its commitment under the Korea-U.S. joint fact sheet to treat U.S. digital companies nondiscriminatorily,” Park said.

In the 35-page report, titled Closed for Competition: Korea's Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses, the U.S. committee highlighted Korea’s “history of discriminatory treatment against American-owned businesses” and “recent harassment campaign against Coupang, an innovative U.S. technology and e-commerce company.”

It said Korea for years used practices against U.S. firms like “coercive investigation tactics, overly burdensome regulatory requirements, and massive fines and penalties intended to punish American businesses and make it harder for them to effectively compete against Korean companies.”

“South Korea has subjected Coupang to ceaseless investigations, unjustifiable demands from regulators, and even threatened to suspend the company's business operations … Following this (data leak) incident, the South Korean government has spread false information about Coupang, referred to it as a criminal organization, and launched numerous investigations into the company, many of which are entirely unrelated to the incident itself,” the report said.

The report followed testimony by Coupang interim CEO Harold Rogers before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in February at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., where he described his experience with South Korean authorities' investigation into last year's customer data leak.

Following the discovery that a Chinese employee had stolen the personal information of more than 37 million customers from the New York Stock Exchange-listed e-commerce giant, Rogers was summoned to testify before the National Assembly. Earlier this year, police launched an investigation into allegations that he committed perjury during his testimony before Korean lawmakers.

Last month, the Personal Information Protection Commission imposed a record 624.7 billion won ($403 million) fine on Coupang over the data breach.