Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, pushed back against the U.S. Congress claiming that "Korean regulators are taking discriminatory regulatory action against Coupang," saying, "Think again about how murky Coupang's conduct is."
Han said at a policy coordination meeting at the National Assembly on the morning of the 15th, "The U.S. Congress may have raised its voice about discrimination against U.S. corporations, but it needs to think again about how murky Coupang's conduct is," adding, "There are also indications that Coupang engaged in lobbying activities targeting members of the U.S. Congress and the administration."
Earlier, the House Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee of the U.S. Congress held a hearing on "overseas digital regulatory trends" on the 13th (local time), saying, "Korean regulators already appear to be aggressively targeting U.S. technology leaders," and pointing to "discriminatory regulatory measures against Coupang" as one example.
Listing Coupang's conduct one by one—personal information leaks, unfair contracting practices with suppliers, violations of logistics delivery workers' rights, excessive labor intensity, repeated industrial accidents and safety management responsibility—Han criticized, "The National Assembly has patiently and continuously demanded responsible conduct from Coupang through standing committees and hearings, but decision-maker Kim Beom-suk has responded by not appearing, focusing only on evading responsibility."
Han said, "In this situation, launching a parliamentary investigation is only natural," adding, "This is not about targeting specific corporations but a legal process to thoroughly get to the bottom of the issues raised overall, protect the basic rights of the public, and establish market order."
Han did not hide displeasure at the U.S. Congress' claims. Han said, "The United States has strongly applied Federal Trade Commission or court and executive branch regulations even when a company's headquarters is overseas or it is a foreign company, and we have not viewed this as regulation aimed at a particular country or specific corporations," stressing, "We need to institutionalize responsibility commensurate with platform corporations that exert enormous influence across the Korean market, including on consumers, workers, and small business owners."