The Democratic Party of Korea recently rebutted a letter from U.S. Republican lawmakers asking to stop discriminatory regulations against Coupang. The party said the point is that protecting individuals' personal information and investigating corporations that violated the law is a legitimate right of a sovereign nation.
Han Jeong-ae, the Democratic Party policy chief, said at a floor countermeasures meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 28th, "The (Republican lawmakers' letter) lists Apple, Coupang, Google and Meta as victimized corporations facing discrimination," but added, "However, the regulations these corporations faced in Korea are not discrimination but equal application for violations of the law."
She went on, "The argument by the Republican lawmakers who sent the letter amounts to a logic that U.S. corporations should be subject to looser standards than their own domestic laws when operating abroad," adding, "This runs counter to the rule of law, sovereign equality and the spirit of free trade agreements (FTAs)."
Han also said, "Korea's level of sanctions is in fact lower than the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's sanctions," adding, "We again say that it is a legitimate right of a sovereign nation for the Korean government to protect its citizens' personal information and to investigate and probe corporations that violated the law."
Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-woo also said, "Recently, 54 Republican members of the U.S. House sent our ambassador to the United States a letter asking to stop discrimination against Coupang," adding, "They claim our government took discriminatory and politically motivated measures against U.S. corporations, but that is completely untrue."
He continued, "If Coupang claims it should be exempt from our legitimate legal sanctions merely because it is a U.S. corporation, that is by no means fair and is nothing more than asking for a serious favor," stressing, "The conduct of some U.S. House members is clear interference in internal affairs and an act that undermines mutual trust and respect between allies."