Top News

Seoul, Jan 24 (IANS) Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said on Saturday he has stressed to US trade officials that Seoul's investigation into e-commerce giant Coupang over a major data breach should be treated separately from broader trade issues between the two countries.

Yeo made the remarks regarding Coupang to reporters at Incheon International Airport after returning to South Korea following his participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, reports Yonhap news agency.

Coupang, a U.S.-listed company founded by Korean American entrepreneur Kim Bom-suk, also known as Bom Kim, generates about 90 percent of its revenue in South Korea.

The minister met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the Davos forum and exchanged views on pending bilateral trade issues.

Yeo said he conveyed to Greer Seoul's position that the investigation does not constitute discriminatory treatment against a U.S. company and should not be elevated into a trade dispute.

"I explained that it is not because Coupang is a U.S. company," Yeo said, adding that authorities would have conducted the same non-discriminatory and transparent investigation if a South Korean firm had experienced a similar data breach.

Yeo also met with Greer and key lawmakers from both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives during a separate visit to Washington last week to explain Seoul's stance on the Coupang probe and address concerns over South Korea's digital regulatory environment.

Meanwhile two US investors in e-commerce giant Coupang notified the South Korean government of their intent to bring arbitration claims against it over what they called "discriminatory" acts toward the US-listed firm, and requested a US government probe into the matter.

Greenoaks Capital Partners and Altimeter Capital Management took the actions, decrying South Korean authorities' investigations into Coupang following revelations in November about a massive customer data leak, according to documents that their legal representative, Covington & Burling LLP, submitted to the two governments.

The Seoul government, along with experts, has been conducting a probe into the incident, in which about 33.7 million customers are believed to have been affected. Coupang has claimed a perpetrator accessed data from only about 3,000 of the accounts in question.

—IANS

na/