The South Korean government discriminated against Coupang, the House report found

The South Korean government has used its regulatory authority to discriminate against US companies and launched an unprecedented crackdown against online retailers. Coupangaccording to the report of the House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday.

The report is the result of an investigation launched by the committee in February. It highlights the management of Coupang, based in the US but known as the “Amazon of Asia,” and other US companies going back decades.

“South Korea’s behavior is part of a broader effort by foreign governments to strengthen their laws and regulations with the goal of harming American companies and reducing their ability to compete in the global economy,” reported the committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

The South Korean embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The committee said in the report that Coupang was the victim of discriminatory pressure from the South Korean government that intensified in 2025 after a data breach by a disgruntled former employee.

The company apologized for the violation and its CEO, Park Dae-jun, resigned because of this incident.

But according to testimony given to the committee by Coupang’s acting CEO Harold Rogers — who took over in December after Park’s resignation — South Korean officials were notified by the company that month that the scale of the breach was smaller than originally expected and that “the leak was limited in nature,” according to the House Judiciary report.

Despite that information, the committee found that the South Korean government launched a crackdown on Coupang that included dozens of investigations, thousands of document requests, exorbitant fines and threats of criminal charges against Rogers, a US citizen.

According to the committee, the South Korean National Intelligence Service forced Coupang to send divers on an undercover mission to find a laptop used by the disgruntled worker that had been dumped in a river in Shanghai, then lied to the public about his involvement in the recovery operation.

“We regret the circumstances that led to the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation and remain committed to finding a constructive solution so that Coupang can once again serve as a bridge to strengthen the US-Korea alliance, accelerating trade and investment that benefit both countries,” the company said in a statement.

The result of South Korea’s anti-Coupang campaign was a drop of more than 40% in Coupang’s market capitalization, according to the committee, and could have a negative impact on its investors.

“South Korean regulators have been targeting Coupang and subjecting the company to hostile management, enforcement procedures, and disproportionately large fines that its Korean competitors have not faced,” the Judiciary report said.

The US and South Korea have had a free trade agreement since 2012. South Korea has been an important trade partner of the US in Asia, according to Demetrios Marantis, former US trade representative under President Barack Obama, told CNBC.

But the relationship has sometimes been strained, with other US-based digital companies – like them Google again Netflix — and sometimes had trouble with South Korean regulators, according to Marantis.

“Korea has a long history of discriminating against foreign companies, in general, and being defensive, and looking less inward,” he said. “But the Coupang situation – I’ve never seen anything this intense. This is a government attack on a single company.”

The US-South Korea trade deal was renegotiated through 2025 as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs. South Korea has negotiated lower tariffs with Trump to invest in US shipbuilding and national security, as well as roll back regulations on American companies.

In its report, the House Judiciary Committee says South Korea’s actions against Coupang violate the agreement.

“South Korea’s discriminatory treatment of US-owned businesses directly violates its recent trade agreement with the United States,” the report said.