By Jack Kim
SEOUL, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Vice President JD Vance expressed hope that questions over U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, stemming from a mass data leak, could be resolved fairly to avoid tension, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on Friday.
Two major U.S. investors in Coupang have petitioned the U.S. government to investigate South Korea’s probe of Coupang, which they said discriminates against an American company and is damaging the firm’s business.
South Korean officials have engaged the administration of President Donald Trump to explain the probe of Coupang’s operation in South Korea, where the Seattle-based parent company generates most of its revenue.
“Vice President Vance requested that the issue be managed well by the two governments to avoid misunderstanding and escalation,” Kim told South Korean reporters in Washington after his meeting.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting outside business hours.
In November, Coupang disclosed that personal data for more than 33 million customers were compromised, triggering a backlash from South Korean lawmakers and the public and prompting a wide-ranging investigation and lawsuits against the company.
South Korea’s Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo said on Saturday he had explained to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that Seoul’s probe of Coupang was not a trade issue.
“The government is currently conducting an investigation in a non-discriminatory and transparent manner in the same way we would have done against any Korean company that had a data leak, not because it is an American company,” Yeo told reporters as he returned from Davos, Switzerland, where he met Greer at the World Economic Forum.
The trade representative’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The actions by the U.S. investors and comments by some members of Congress have raised concerns in South Korea that the Coupang case could escalate into a trade dispute, just as Seoul was working to implement a deal announced in November that would lower U.S. tariffs against its exports.
That wide-reaching trade and security deal is top of Kim’s agenda with senior U.S. officials.
Kim said he and Vance also discussed how Washington could improve ties with North Korea and suggested that Trump consider sending a special envoy to Pyongyang.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met three times during the U.S. president’s first term, but Pyongyang has not directly responded to renewed calls from Washington to resume dialogue.
(Reporting by Jack Kim and Sebin Choi; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and William Mallard)
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