Foreign Ministry rebuffs US congressional report as 'contrary to facts'
Trump ally calls report 'timely warning,' defends Coupang
Opposition urges pan-government response to escalating row
Controversy over a US congressional report alleging that South Korea discriminates against Coupang is spreading rapidly, with opposition parties warning the dispute could escalate into a broader trade conflict between Seoul and Washington.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Il rebuffed the report Wednesday, saying its claims that the South Korean government discriminates against Coupang and other American companies were "contrary to the facts." The statement was the government's first official response, issued one day after the report became public.
The US congressional report alleges that South Korea has treated Coupang and other American companies in a discriminatory manner and suggests such measures could violate the terms of the bilateral trade agreement.
The report also claims that South Korea's National Intelligence Service led an operation to retrieve a laptop belonging to a suspect in a hacking case against Coupang from China. The controversy is expected to deepen amid reports that Coupang's extensive lobbying of US executive branch and congressional officials resulted in many of the company's own assertions being incorporated into the document.
Despite Seoul's rebuttal, pushback came swiftly from the American side. Fred Fleitz, vice president of the America First Policy Institute and a former chief of staff to the White House national security adviser during the first Trump administration, defended the report in an op-ed published Wednesday in the conservative outlet Newsmax, calling it a "timely warning." He argued that "by addressing these issues head-on, the US and South Korea can demonstrate that they prioritize strategic challenges over parochial disputes."
The People Power Party and other opposition parties voiced concern that the matter could spill over into a bilateral trade dispute and urged the government to respond more assertively.
People Power Party lawmaker Kang Min-guk, who visited the United States in March as a member of the Korea-US Inter-Parliamentary Union, said that during his recent trip many members of both the Senate and the House raised concerns about what they described as unfair discrimination against American companies.
Fellow PPP lawmaker Ju Jin-woo warned that the controversy "could accelerate a trade dispute and deal a blow not only to the Korea-US alliance but also to South Korea's exports to the United States." Lawmaker Park Sung-hoon also urged the government to "immediately take a responsible and proactive stance on the House Judiciary Committee's allegation of discriminatory treatment of American companies, in the interest of national interests and trade credibility."
Meanwhile, Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said at a supreme council meeting Thursday that the government must "immediately activate a pan-government response framework" in connection with the controversy. "Regardless of whether the content is right or wrong, the mere fact that such a document has been entered into the official record of the US Congress is disadvantageous to us," he said. Lee added that "the moment Donald Trump begins reviewing his achievements ahead of the midterm elections, issues such as South Korea's fulfillment of its investment pledges to the United States could be put back on the table at any time."
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