Blue House fires back at 'inaccurate' U.S. House report accusing Korea of singling out Coupang
Seoul says investigations into Coupang’s massive data breach followed due process and were not discriminatory despite criticism from Washington and a U.S. House panel.
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac speaks at a press briefing at the Blue House in central Seoul on July 3.JOINT PRESS CORPS
The Blue House on Friday strongly refuted claims of "discriminatory treatment" raised in a U.S. House committee report and by White House officials after a massive data breach at e-commerce giant Coupang, pointing to “inaccuracies” in such claims.
"We do not discriminate in business activities based on nationality, nor do we target specific entities for investigation,” National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a briefing at the Blue House in central Seoul. “All investigations into Coupang are being conducted in a non-discriminatory manner and in accordance with due process under domestic law."
The remarks come after the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's interim staff report released Wednesday accused Korea of carrying out "discriminatory attacks" against U.S.-listed Coupang and other American companies.
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The 35-page report, titled "Closed for Competition: South Korea’s Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses,” followed Korean authorities' investigations into Coupang's massive personal data leak. It claimed that Korean regulators have “consistently targeted Coupang and subjected the company to hostile regulatory treatment.”
A White House official in a statement on Thursday said that Coupang has been "singled out" by the Lee Jae Myung administration and that the Donald Trump government is “deeply concerned” over Seoul’s “discriminatory targeting of U.S. technology companies.”
"Our government has consistently made efforts to clearly convey our position to the U.S. Congress and administration,” Wi said regarding the report. "However, the House Judiciary Committee's report reflects little of our explanations while heavily featuring Coupang's one-sided claims, and we have expressed our regret regarding this."
Wi said that “claims in the report that the investigation is discriminatory or targeted, or that unfair regulations are persisting, are far from the truth.”
He noted that there “appears to be a difference in perspective regarding this matter between the company in question and our government."
Wi reiterated that regulators’ investigation revealed that the personal data of over 33 million individuals was leaked by Coupang, “a fact the company itself has acknowledged."
He added that the leak was “perpetrated from China by a Chinese national who was a former employee of Coupang” and that the compromised data may well include information on U.S. citizens residing in Korea.
Wi noted that “if a similar data breach had occurred in the United States — where the personal information of two-thirds of the population was leaked to China without anyone knowing where it ended up — it would undoubtedly be considered a critically serious issue there."
The House report claimed that Korea’s top spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), “forced Coupang to send an employee to China in order to recover devices,” adding that the NIS then lied to the public about its involvement in the recovery operation. It also accused the Korean government of “threatening” Coupang’s interim CEO Harold Rogers, an American, with “criminal charges based on NIS’s refusal to acknowledge its role in the recovery operation."
A group of protesters hold a rally to denounce e-commerce giant Coupang and a U.S. House Judiciary Committee interim staff report alleging "discriminatory treatment" on American businesses in front of the U.S. Embassy in Jongno District, central Seoul, on July 3.NEWS1
Wi strongly brushed off such claims as well and stressed, “The Blue House had no prior knowledge of, nor did it direct or involve itself in, the retrieval of the equipment containing leaked personal data from Coupang in China.”
He also addressed the concerns expressed by the White House and said that “it appears they adopted that position based on the report.”
The Blue House “will continue to communicate with them and encourage understanding,” Wi said. "The report appears to heavily reflect the one-sided views of the company involved. However, in Korea, this company is the subject of investigation and is effectively a suspect."
When asked about the possibility that this matter could affect bilateral security cooperation, Wi said Seoul will “make efforts to isolate and separate this issue so that it does not impact other aspects of the Korea-U.S. relationship."
