Yeo Han-koo, head of the Office of the Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, said on the 24th that at the Davos Forum he met with Jamieson Greer, head of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and emphasized that the domestic investigation into Coupang should be kept separate from trade issues.
The Deputy Minister returned to Korea through Incheon International Airport on the day after completing a four-day business trip to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF/Davos Forum) from the 19th to the 22nd (local time).
He said that at this Davos Forum he met with Greer of the USTR to exchange views on trade pending issues between Korea and the United States.
He also said he clearly conveyed the position that the domestic investigation into Coupang, which caused a large-scale personal information leakage incident, is not discriminatory treatment against U.S. corporations and is not a matter that will escalate into a trade issue.
The Deputy Minister told Greer, "It is not because (Coupang) is a U.S. corporations; even if a Korean corporations had experienced such a large-scale data leak, we would have conducted the investigation in the same nondiscriminatory and transparent manner."
During the U.S. trip last week, he met with key members of both the House and Senate, including Greer, and explained the same position regarding the domestic investigation into Coupang.
On the possibility that the domestic investigation into Coupang could lead to trade retaliation such as a tariff, the Deputy Minister said, "It is not yet a situation to prejudge to that stage."
He added, "There is still plenty of time, so we plan to work to resolve as many misunderstandings as possible through close communication with the USTR and other parts of the U.S. government and Congress."
At this Davos Forum, in addition to Greer, the Deputy Minister met with key U.S. figures including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, and emphasized the contributions of Korean corporations' investment in the United States and the need to strengthen mutually beneficial industrial cooperation.