'Closed for Competition': U.S. House report claims Korea singled out Coupang, other U.S. firms

WASHINGTON — A U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee report released on Wednesday claims that the Korean government has long engaged in discriminatory actions against U.S. companies, including Coupang, and that such actions violate the Korea-U.S. trade agreement signed last year.

The House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust published the 35-page report, titled "Closed for Competition: South Korea’s Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses."

“While South Korea has been targeting American-owned companies for decades, its discriminatory treatment has escalated considerably in recent years,” the report said.

It further alleges that the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has played a central role in this discrimination.

“The KFTC has been particularly aggressive in its attacks on American-owned businesses,” it said.

“In a recent survey, American businesses reported that KFTC enforcement is characterized by a ‘[l]ack of due process and procedural fairness,’ including the initiation of investigations based on insufficient evidence and the inability of companies to challenge investigations before a final determination is reached by the agency. Even worse, the KFTC regularly uses aggressive enforcement practices in order to coerce compliance, including early morning raids, multi-day interrogations, and even the threat of criminal charges.”

It further argues that “Korea’s discriminatory treatment of American-owned businesses directly violates its recent trade agreement with the United States.”

The report devotes more than half of its content to Coupang, describing it as a Seattle, Washington-based "innovative" e-commerce company incorporated in Delaware and often referred to as the "Amazon of South Korea."

It claims that the Korean government launched a government-wide campaign against Coupang following a personal data breach.

Coupang announced on Nov. 18, 2025, that the personal information of around 4,500 accounts had been exposed without authorization. Eleven days later, the company confirmed that, upon further investigation, information from 33.7 million user accounts had been leaked — a figure about 7,500 times greater than initially reported.

The company said the exposed data included names, email addresses, phone numbers and addresses stored in users’ delivery address books, as well as some order information. Payment information and credit card numbers, which are managed separately, as well as login credentials, were not affected, according to Coupang.

Following the data breach, more than 10 government agencies, including the KFTC, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, conducted dozens of “unrelated” investigations into Coupang, the report says. It claims that the company was issued more than 4,000 document requests and was to participate in more than 652 employee interviews.

The report also cites testimony from Coupang interim CEO Harold Rogers.

The interim CEO noted that Korea is continually "working to drive customers away from [Coupang] and drive them to […] a Korean competitor," and described Korea as “the most difficult regulatory environment” he has ever worked in.

The report also details what it describes as deep involvement by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) during the investigation into the data breach.

It alleges that the intelligence agency instructed Coupang to deploy divers to recover a laptop that a former employee responsible for the data leak had thrown into a river in Shanghai, China, and later concealed its involvement in the recovery operation.

“Despite the fact that NIS initiated and was substantially involved in the recovery operation, on Dec. 26, 2025, NIS issued a press release stating that the agency ‘ha[d] issued no instructions’ to Coupang regarding the operation,” the report said.

“This is directly contradicted by documents and testimony obtained by the Committee and Subcommittee.”

The NIS denied Rogers' claim late last year that the company had conducted its internal investigation at the NIS's instruction.

The agency said it "gave no instructions, orders or approvals to Coupang beyond requesting relevant materials, nor does it have the authority to do so."

The agency has maintained that it requested information solely for national security purposes and did not direct the investigation.

The report claims that Coupang's market capitalization has fallen by more than 40 percent after it became the target of Korean regulators, which harmed U.S. investors and American companies that use the platform.

It also criticizes the PIPC's June 11 decision to impose a record fine of 624.6 billion won ($402 million), calling it "the largest fine ever imposed on a single company" and arguing that it far exceeds fines levied on Korean companies for far more serious data breaches.

“Beyond Coupang, recent estimates indicate that South Korea’s discriminatory behavior could lead to over $500 billion in economic losses for the United States and cost the average American household $3,800 over the next 10 years,” the report stated.

Beyond Coupang, the report criticizes Korea's broader digital platform regulations.

“South Korea has weaponized digital laws and regulations to hinder the ability of innovative American companies to effectively compete in its market,” it said.

“The South Korean government is currently advancing legislation modeled directly on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a European law specifically designed to hinder the ability of American-owned businesses to compete against their European rivals.”

The report also cites Google, Apple, Qualcomm and Microsoft as examples of U.S. technology companies that it claims have faced persistent discriminatory treatment from Korean regulators.

The report comes as the Donald Trump administration has increasingly criticized Korea's digital regulations, including online platform rules and the Cloud Security Assurance Program, as non-tariff trade barriers.

The report, however, is likely to ignite controversy because it largely adopts Coupang's claims and argues from the premise that U.S. companies face discriminatory treatment in Korea.

The report has also raised concerns that it could negatively affect ongoing negotiations between Seoul and Washington, which formally began early last month to implement bilateral security agreements.

It is unusual for the U.S. Congress to formally accuse the Korean government of violating a trade agreement in an official report citing regulatory actions against a specific company, raising the possibility that the issue could become a key point of contention in future bilateral trade and security talks.

The report could also reignite tensions between Korea and the United States over Coupang.

The House Judiciary Committee has investigated what it describes as discriminatory treatment of U.S. companies by the Korean government since February, including calling Coupang’s Rogers to testify before the committee.

BY KIM HYOUNG-GU [[email protected]]