As CoupangInc's (hereafter Coupang) lobbying of the U.S. government and Congress has come to light recently, a survey found that 6 out of 10 people consider it inappropriate.
On the 31st, Realmeter, commissioned by The Today, stated accordingly that it surveyed 511 people nationwide aged 18 and older on the 28th on public perceptions of Coupang's lobbying in the United States and its social responsibility in Korea.
The survey found that 80.3% of the public ("well aware" 40.2%, "have heard of it" 40.0%) are aware of Coupang's lobbying activities in the United States. This suggests public interest in the issue is very high.
Regardless of awareness, a majority of 63.9% viewed Coupang's lobbying in the United States as inappropriate because "it appears intended to influence domestic regulations." In contrast, 23.7% said "there is no problem because it is a general and lawful activity of global corporations."
Although the Korea Fair Trade Commission designated Coupang founder Chair Bom Kim as the de facto controlling manager, the court suspended the effectiveness of that designation until a ruling on the merits; public opinion leaned somewhat toward the FTC's view. Responses saying they "agree with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC)'s position" designating Chair Bom Kim as the de facto controlling manager came to 47.3%, while 33.2% said they "agree with the court's view."
Separately from actions by the FTC or the court, when asked about where ultimate management responsibility at Coupang lies, 49.7% answered "with Chair Bom Kim personally." Responses saying "with Coupang's U.S. corporation" were found at 34.4%.
Compared with a year ago, 64.5% (very 41.1%, somewhat 23.4%) evaluated that their overall image of Coupang "has turned negative." By contrast, the evaluation that it "has turned positive" was found at 28.6% (very 15.9%, somewhat 12.7%).
Regarding how our government should approach overseas lobbying by domestic conglomerates or overseas-listed Korea-related corporations, the view that "certain regulations and oversight should be strengthened" (38.6%) and the view that "it should be left to corporate autonomy without separate regulation" (32.4%) were fairly evenly split. The compromise that "management should focus on expanding disclosure" (24.1%) was relatively less favored.
In addition, when domestic corporations conduct lobbying or other government relations activities overseas, the factor considered most important to improve corporate transparency was "disclosure of key activities and contacts" (34.5%). That was followed by "disclosure of activity objectives" (28.1%) and "disclosure of activity expense" (17.3%).