White House official says Coupang has been 'singled out' by Korean gov't

A White House official said on Thursday that e-commerce giant Coupang has been "singled out" by 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 a comment on this week's release of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's interim staff report accusing Korea of "discriminatory attacks" on Coupang and other U.S.-owned businesses.

The 35-page committee report followed 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 Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

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

Coupang, whose Korean business generates more than 90 percent of the company's total revenue, has received public criticism and scrutiny in Korea following the disclosure of the customer data breach in November of last year.

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 Korea's legal procedures concerning the data leak.

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

Yonhap