The presidential office on the 3rd responded to a U.S. House Judiciary Committee report claiming that the Korean government is discriminating against the U.S. corporation Coupang by saying, "All investigations into Coupang are being conducted in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with due process under domestic law," and, "The report's claim that the investigation into Coupang is discriminatory or targeted is very different from the facts." It especially hypothesized a case in which such a large-scale data leak occurred in the United States and said, "It would also be a serious issue in the United States."
Wi Sung-lac, the presidential Office of National Security chief, at a briefing at the Chunchugwan press center at the presidential office that day, was asked about the report on the government leak incident that the U.S. House of Representatives posted on its website on the 1st (local time) and said, "If a similar data leak had occurred in the United States, if personal information equivalent to two-thirds of the U.S. population had been leaked to China and it was unknown where it went, it could not help but be a serious issue in the United States."
Wi said, "According to the investigation, more than 33 million pieces of personal information were leaked (in the Coupang incident), and a former Coupang employee, a Chinese national, carried out the leak in China," adding, "There could be information on Americans in it." He went on, "But because it has not been confirmed how that information was used, we are trying to investigate," and said, "That information may still be in China."
On the claims of "discriminatory treatment" and "targeting," Wi noted a difference in perspective between the U.S. House and the Korean government and said it was "Coupang's one-sided claim." Wi said, "The perspective (the House Judiciary Committee) has on this matter seems different from that of our government," and, "(Our government) does not engage in discriminatory treatment or targeting of tech corporations from any country." He added, "We have made consistent efforts to fully convey our position to the U.S. Congress and administration," and said, "However, in this House Judiciary Committee report, our explanations were not sufficiently reflected, and only Coupang's one-sided claims were largely included, so (our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others) expressed regret."
◇ U.S. House report: "Presidential office intervened in recovery of Chinese employee's IT equipment"
Earlier, Coupang recovered in China the IT equipment of the Chinese employee who hacked Koreans' personal data, but the U.S. House report characterized this process as being "led by the National Intelligence Service" and wrote it as if the presidential office had intervened. Wi said about this as well, "It is completely untrue," adding, "The presidential office did not know in advance, instruct, or take part in Coupang's recovery in China of the equipment that is evidence of the personal data leak."
He also said that around mid-December last year a Coupang official conveyed, "(The IT equipment has been) recovered, good news," and that was when he first heard the news. On Coupang, he said, "In Korea it is a subject of investigation and effectively a suspect," and added, "If (the U.S. Congress) only heard that side, we will communicate and resolve this by also reflecting our side."
The possibility that the Coupang incident could negatively affect security negotiations, including the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines agreed upon by South Korea and the United States and expanded rights to enrich and reprocess uranium, is also seen as a headwind. Wi said, "We will work to isolate and separate this so it does not affect various other issues between South Korea and the United States."