New Report Exposes South Korea's Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses
July 1, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report titled, "Closed for Competition: South Korea's Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses." The report details South Korea's history of discriminatory treatment against American-owned businesses and the ways in which it has escalated over the past several years, including its recent harassment campaign against Coupang, Inc., an innovative U.S. technology and e-commerce company.
South Korea has a long history of engaging in economic discrimination against foreign companies. These practices include coercive investigation tactics, overly burdensome regulatory requirements, and massive fines and penalties intended to punish American businesses and make it harder for them to effectively compete against Korean companies.
Coupang has been a consistent target of the South Korean government. South Korea has subjected Coupang to ceaseless investigations, unjustifiable demands from regulators, and even threatened to suspend the company's business operations. While South Korea's hostility toward Coupang has been going on for years, it has escalated considerably after a former employee stole a limited amount of customer data from Coupang. Following this incident, the South Korean government has spread false information about Coupang, referred to it as a criminal organization, and launched numerous investigations into the company, many of which are entirely unrelated to the incident itself.
After forcing 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, South Korea lied about its involvement in the operation and threatened Coupang's CEO, an American citizen, with criminal charges.
Both deposition testimony and documents produced to the Committee and Subcommittee show that:
South Korea has a long history of engaging in economic discrimination against foreign companies. These practices include coercive investigation tactics, overly burdensome regulatory requirements, and massive fines and penalties intended to punish American businesses and make it harder for them to effectively compete against Korean companies.
Coupang has been a consistent target of the South Korean government. South Korea has subjected Coupang to ceaseless investigations, unjustifiable demands from regulators, and even threatened to suspend the company's business operations. While South Korea's hostility toward Coupang has been going on for years, it has escalated considerably after a former employee stole a limited amount of customer data from Coupang. Following this incident, the South Korean government has spread false information about Coupang, referred to it as a criminal organization, and launched numerous investigations into the company, many of which are entirely unrelated to the incident itself.
After forcing 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, South Korea lied about its involvement in the operation and threatened Coupang's CEO, an American citizen, with criminal charges.
Both deposition testimony and documents produced to the Committee and Subcommittee show that:
- The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has been particularly aggressive in its attacks on American-owned businesses and regularly uses aggressive enforcement practices in order to coerce compliance, including early morning raids, multi-day interrogations, and even the threat of criminal charges;
- South Korea has weaponized its laws to hinder the ability of innovative American companies to effectively compete in its market and has advanced anticompetitive legislation that would prevent American companies from successfully competing against Korean tech companies;
- South Korean regulators have consistently targeted Coupang and subjected the company to hostile regulatory treatment, unfair enforcement practices, and disproportionately large penalties not faced by their Korean competitors;
- The South Korean government misled the public about the investigation, Coupang's role in the data incident, and the South Korean government's role in the post-incident recovery operations;
- The South Korean government's attacks on Coupang have harmed United States citizens and American businesses, which sell billions of dollars' worth of products through Coupang's online platform every year.
South Korea's economic discrimination against American-owned businesses is part of a larger pattern of foreign governments weaponizing their broad discretion under competition laws and other regulatory regimes to shield their domestic industries from U.S. competition. It also directly violates its recent trade agreement with the United States.
The Committee has previously raised concerns about South Korea's economic discrimination against American companies and will continue its oversight to inform legislative reforms to better protect American business and consumers.
The Committee has previously raised concerns about South Korea's economic discrimination against American companies and will continue its oversight to inform legislative reforms to better protect American business and consumers.
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