White House official says Coupang ′singled out′ by Lee gov′t, warns against ′unfair′ trade practices

▲ The White House in Washington (Yonhap)

White House-Coupang

White House official says Coupang 'singled out' by Lee gov't, warns against 'unfair' trade practices

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Yonhap) -- A White House official said Thursday that e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. is being "singled out" by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's administration, expressing concern over what Washington called "discriminatory" targeting of the U.S.-listed firm.

The official made the remarks in response to Yonhap News Agency's request for comment on the release this week of the House Judiciary Committee's interim staff report accusing South Korea of "discriminatory attacks" on Coupang and other American-owned businesses.

The 35-page committee report followed South Korean authorities' investigations into Coupang's massive personal data leak, which is believed to have affected more than 33 million users, about 68 percent of the Asian country's entire population.

"The administration is deeply concerned with the ROK government's discriminatory targeting of U.S. technology companies," the official said, using the acronym of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

"By any reasonable measure, Coupang is being singled out by the Lee government. The Trump administration will not tolerate unfair trade practices, including those that limit market access for U.S. digital services."

Coupang, whose Korea business generates more than 90 percent of the company's total revenue, has been under intense public criticism and scrutiny in South Korea following the disclosure of the customer data breach in November.

The House Judiciary Committee report came amid lingering concerns that Coupang's extensive lobbying activities in the U.S. capital could further escalate diplomatic tensions over South Korea's legal procedures concerning the data leak.

Lobbying Disclosure Act reports on the Senate website showed in April that Coupang had spent more than US$1 million on lobbying activities in the U.S., including efforts involving the White House and Congress, since its data leak scandal erupted in November.

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