By Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, July 2 (Reuters) – South Korean authorities have consistently discriminated against U.S.-based Coupang, a campaign that escalated with numerous investigations after a data breach at the e-commerce firm last year, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said in an interim report.
Those actions were part of long-standing economic discrimination against U.S. and other foreign companies, the report said, adding that such discrimination “directly violates” a recent bilateral trade agreement.
South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson Park Il said the report was one-sided, reflecting only claims by Coupang despite the government communicating with the committee for months. Allegations of discrimination against Coupang and other U.S. companies were untrue, he added.
REPORT ALLEGES A ‘GOVERNMENT ASSAULT’ ON COUPANG
Coupang, the biggest online retailer in South Korea but based in Seattle, became the target of much regulatory scrutiny and public ire last year after news of the breach became known.
A former employee was able to access customer information associated with as many as 33.7 million accounts. Coupang later said the person only stored and retained information relating to about 3,000 accounts.
After the breach, “South Korea escalated its attacks into a ‘whole-of-government assault on Coupang’,” according to the report by the Republican-controlled committee, which said its findings were informed by documents and testimony from Coupang.
The report said more than 10 South Korean agencies initiated dozens of unrelated investigations into Coupang following the breach, issuing over 4,000 document requests and conducting at least 652 interviews with Coupang employees.
FACTS ABOUT LAPTOP RECOVERY EFFORTS DISPUTED
It also said that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) forced Coupang to engage in a dangerous recovery operation that involved sending an employee to China and retrieving devices and sworn statements from the former employee responsible for the breach.
As part of that, Coupang hired divers to retrieve a discarded laptop from a river, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was briefed on the recovery operation, the report said.
The NIS denied in December that it had directed Coupang’s investigation or recovery efforts, saying it had only requested materials from the company. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sun-won, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly Intelligence Committee, also said on Thursday that there had been “absolutely” no coercion.
The presidential Blue House did not have an immediate response.
Coupang said in a statement that it regretted the circumstances that led to the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation.
It is “committed to finding a constructive resolution so Coupang can once again serve as a bridge to strengthen the U.S.-Korea alliance, accelerating trade and investment that benefits both countries,” the company said.
($1 = 1,555.7000 won)
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim; Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Brenda Goh and Edwina Gibbs)
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