▲ This photo, taken on June 16, 2026, shows Fred Fleitz, who served as chief of staff of the National Security Council during President Donald Trump's first term, speaking during an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul. (Yonhap)

ex-Trump aide-alliance

Ex-Trump official warns Coupang dispute could strain S. Korea-U.S. alliance amid security threats

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Yonhap) -- A former senior U.S. official warned Thursday that a dispute over South Korea's treatment of e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. could strain the Seoul-Washington alliance amid intensifying security challenges, including North Korea's evolving military threats.

Fred Fleitz, who served as chief of staff of the National Security Council during President Donald Trump's first term, issued the warning in an opinion piece on Newsmax, a U.S. news outlet, a day after the House Judiciary Committee released a report accusing South Korea of "discriminatory attacks" on Coupang and other U.S. firms.

Noting a set of pressing security issues, including North Korean threats, he called for Seoul and Washington to address the commercial matters "head-on" and demonstrate that their partnership prioritizes "strategic imperatives" over "parochial" disputes.

"The bigger risk lies in how this dispute could strain the broader U.S.-South Korea alliance. As I argued (in a past article), this vital partnership -- forged over seven decades and strengthened by (the) personal rapport between Presidents Trump and Lee (Jae Myung) -- is worth far more than these trivial conflicts," Fleitz said.

"This alliance deters North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship, counters Chinese assertiveness, and includes the critical trilateral cooperation with Japan. It also enables robust defense industrial ties, nuclear-powered submarine cooperation and economic interdependence that benefit both nations," he added.

Fleitz expressed concerns that commercial disputes between the two countries could hurt bilateral trust as well.

"Such frictions can spill into security consultations and investor confidence, complicating the very cooperation needed to address grave shared threats," he said.

Pointing out that the South Korean president's pragmatic approach to security matters in the alliance has yielded "major progress" on defense spending, nuclear cooperation and other fronts, he stressed that extending that pragmatism to commercial matters would help reinforce the alliance's foundation.

"In a dangerous world, the U.S.-South Korea alliance remains indispensable. It is time to treat it as such," he said.

Released Wednesday, the interim staff report by the House committee zeroed in on South Korean authorities' investigations into Coupang's massive data leak believed to have affected more than 33 million users, saying that the U.S.-listed firm has been a "consistent target" of the Seoul government.

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