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Special counsel concludes probe into Coupang's severance pay suspicions

Published: 05 Mar. 2026, 21:25

Special counsel Ann Gweon-seob, right, holds a news conference to mark the completion of his team's 90-day investigation period at his office in southern Seoul on March 5. [YONHAP]

Special counsel Ann Gweon-seob's team, which was launched to look into suspicions of unpaid severance pay at Coupang and the prosecution's alleged loss of key evidence related to the probe into former first lady Kim Keon Hee, completed its 90-day investigation period on Thursday.

Ann's team, comprising 65 prosecutors, investigators and officials, began its activities on Dec. 6, 2025. It has since raided Coupang, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and other institutions and questioned key suspects multiple times.

The team succeeded in indicting two prosecutors — Uhm Hee-joon and Kim Dong-hee — over their suspected intervention in the investigation into allegations of Coupang's unpaid severance pay.

Uhm and Kim are accused of pressuring a subordinate prosecutor not to indict Coupang over the suspicions of unpaid severance pay while respectively serving as head and deputy head of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office's Bucheon branch last year.

Chung Jong-chul, the CEO of Coupang Fulfillment Services, a logistics subsidiary of Coupang, and his predecessor, Eom Seong-hwan, were also indicted on charges of changing the company's employment rules to the disadvantage of its employees in May 2023 and failing to provide severance pay.

But the team has failed to complete its probe into the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office's loss of Bank of Korea straps used to bundle new banknotes worth 50 million won ($34,000) found at the home of a shaman close to Kim Keon Hee during the prosecution's raid in December 2024. Instead, Ann's team transferred the case to the prosecution for further investigation.

Yonhap