Google dispute, revised law loom as next points of tension in Korea-U.S. ties after Coupang

Korea’s sweeping investigations into Coupang, the U.S.-based e-commerce company, have exposed a sharp divide with the United States, and a pending sanctions case against Google and a revised Korean law requiring platforms to police false information could spark the next clash. 

What Seoul sees as enforcing its own laws, Washington is taking as discrimination against U.S. companies. Some experts warn that the gap means domestic regulation is increasingly spilling over into diplomatic and trade affairs.

The Coupang investigations began in November last year after the company, whose business is largely in Korea, experienced a data breach that leaked the information of more than 30 million customers. Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission, the police, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the National Tax Service, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and others have all since launched investigations into the company.

Coupang’s Seattle-based parent is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and wholly owns the Korean unit.

For the Korean government, it was a matter of enforcing domestic law against a Korean company, but Washington saw it as discriminatory regulation targeting a U.S. firm.

In a July report, Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee called the Korean government’s response a “whole-of-government assault” on Coupang. As evidence, they cited investigations into the company by more than 10 Korean agencies, more than 4,000 related document requests and interviews with more than 650 Coupang employees. The “No Racketeers on Our Shores Act” was subsequently introduced to bar foreign officials who discriminate against U.S. companies from entering the United States.

The FTC’s case against Google has drawn less attention than the Coupang dispute but may be the next source of friction between Seoul and Washington.

In July, the commission began sanctions proceedings against Google following claims that it limited competition from other app stores by signing “most favored nation” contracts with game companies. The company could pay a fine of up to 850 billion won ($631.6 million), according to reports.

Google’s lobbying clout in Washington far exceeds Coupang’s, according to some sources familiar with U.S. affairs.

The revised Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, which took effect in July, already applies directly to U.S. companies.

The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) named eight platforms — including Google, Meta and X — that must take action against false and manipulated information.

In August, four Republican lawmakers, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, sent a letter to the KMCC, describing the law as a major threat to freedom of online speech and expression that could hurt U.S. companies.

“With no way of knowing when the next Coupang will emerge, we have entered a phase in which domestic regulation must be considered alongside U.S. trade risks,” said a former senior government official who asked not to be named.

BY YOON JI-WON [[email protected]]