35-page report released — more than half devoted to Coupang, largely echoing company's own claims

Report says discrimination against US firms has 'worsened considerably in recent years'

Calls treatment a 'direct violation' of US-South Korea trade agreement

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer watches as US President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference during the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, on June 17 (local time). [AFP]
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer watches as US President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference during the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, on June 17 (local time). [AFP]

A US congressional report has alleged that the South Korean government is discriminating against American companies, including Coupang Inc, devoting more than half its pages to Coupang's case and arguing that such treatment constitutes a violation of the US-South Korea trade agreement. The report largely reflects Coupang's own claims, made amid an extensive lobbying campaign targeting the US administration and Congress.

The US House Judiciary Committee published the 35-page report Tuesday (local time) on its website under the title "Blocking Competition: South Korea's Discriminatory Attacks on American-Owned Companies."

Drawing on testimony and documents obtained by the committee, the report claimed that "South Korea has targeted American-owned companies for decades, but the discriminatory treatment has worsened considerably in recent years." It said such practices include "coercive investigation tactics, excessively burdensome regulatory requirements, and substantial fines and penalties that punish American companies and make it difficult for them to compete effectively with Korean companies."

The report singled out South Korea's Korea Fair Trade Commission as particularly aggressive in its actions against US firms, relaying complaints from American companies about a lack of procedural fairness — including investigations launched on insufficient evidence and early-morning search and seizure operations.

The report also alleged that South Korea has weaponized digital laws and regulations to prevent American companies from competing effectively in its market. It went on to say that "South Korea's discriminatory treatment of American companies is a direct violation of the trade agreement recently concluded with the United States."

More than half the report was devoted to highlighting what it described as discriminatory treatment of Coupang Inc. It characterized the company's personal data breach as "an unauthorized access to a data system by a disgruntled former employee," and claimed that South Korea subsequently "escalated its attacks into a full-scale government offensive."

The report also detailed claims by Harold Rogers, acting representative of Coupang Inc in South Korea, alleging that South Korea is trying to drive customers away from Coupang Inc and steer them toward domestic competitors.

It also described the process by which Coupang Inc recovered a hacking suspect's laptop from China, characterizing it as "an operation led by the National Intelligence Service" and relaying Coupang Inc's claim that the retrieval was carried out at the NIS's direction.

A cooperation letter that Coupang Inc said it received from the NIS was attached to the report in English translation.

The report also included claims that a senior official at South Korea's presidential office instructed Coupang Inc to work closely with the NIS to retrieve and hand over the suspect's electronic devices. When the official was informed the devices had been secured in Shanghai, China, the official said they would "report to President Lee Jae Myung" — with confirmation that the report was made the following day, Dec. 16, 2025.

The report's claim is that South Korea's top leadership, including President Lee, was aware that Coupang Inc had acted at the NIS's direction.

The report added that Coupang Inc's market capitalization has fallen more than 40 percent as a result of being targeted in South Korea, harming American investors and US sellers and producers who move billions of dollars worth of products through the platform each year. It also cited statistics suggesting that South Korea's discriminatory practices and hostile regulations could cause losses of $525 billion in the United States and $469 billion in South Korea, and inflict an average economic loss of $3,800 on American households over the next decade.

A significant portion of the report appears to present Coupang Inc's one-sided claims largely at face value, under the assumption that American companies are being treated unfairly in South Korea — a framing likely to draw criticism.

The report also makes no mention of the sensitivity and complexity of the matter, including concerns that personal data belonging to citizens of a US ally may have been passed to China amid intensifying US-China strategic competition in the technology sector and beyond — an omission also likely to prove contentious.

The release of the report comes as the South Korean and US governments entered substantive negotiations last month on implementing security agreements reached at their summit, raising questions about what impact, if any, the report may have on those talks.

Security consultations between the two countries had been delayed longer than initially expected, partly due to the Coupang Inc issue and US tensions with Iran, before gaining momentum last month when a US government delegation visited South Korea following coordination between the two governments.

The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating the South Korean government's treatment of American companies, including summoning Rogers to testify in February. Coupang Inc has mounted an extensive lobbying campaign targeting both the US administration and Congress.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com