[Editorial] Coupang’s try to cover behind US gained’t win again Korean shoppers

In its response to efforts by the South Korean authorities and lawmakers to make clear who’s answerable for the current information breach at Coupang, the e-commerce large appears poised to border this situation as a commerce dispute between Korea and the US. Coupang should perceive that making an attempt to leverage the ability of the US authorities to flee this disaster will solely provoke better public anger and backlash.

On Tuesday, Robert O’Brien, who served because the nationwide safety adviser throughout President Donald Trump’s first administration, wrote on the social media platform X, “[Trump] has labored exhausting to rebalance the commerce relationship with Korea & it might be very unlucky if Korea undermines his efforts by focusing on US tech corporations.” 

He argued that “a robust, coordinated US response is crucial to safeguard truthful remedy of US firms,” urging the US authorities to answer what he referred to as the Nationwide Meeting’s “aggressive focusing on of Coupang [that] will set the stage for additional KFTC discriminatory measures,” referring to the Korea Honest Commerce Fee.

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa additionally expressed comparable views. In an opinion piece printed within the Day by day Caller, a right-wing media outlet, Issa asserted that the current Coupang debacle is an instance of the South Korean authorities discriminating in opposition to and attacking American firms. 

Coupang’s lobbying efforts in political and authorities circles possible performed a task in such denouncements. 

Coupang has spent roughly US$11 million over the previous 5 years on lobbying actions focusing on the US White Home, Nationwide Safety Council, Division of Commerce, and Congress. This isn’t the primary time Coupang has skirted a disaster by framing controversies as a commerce situation. The identical technique was taken final yr, when the Honest Commerce Fee exempted its chairman, Bom Kim, from being designated because the “controlling shareholder.”

American pundits defending Coupang and Bom Kim — who is called Kim Bom-suk in Korea — might marvel why the Korean authorities and Nationwide Meeting are intervening and making use of stress throughout the board relating to company administration. Nonetheless, within the US, when comparable incidents occurred, the US Congress held hearings the place the de facto high decision-makers of Massive Tech firms appeared to testify. One can’t assist however ask why the Korean Nationwide Meeting is deemed incapable of summoning Kim for hearings to demand accountability. 

Furthermore, this incident erupted within the context of a number of points which were accumulating at Coupang, together with poor working circumstances for laborers and unfair dealings with distributors. The general public can now not tolerate such violations. It’s solely pure for the Nationwide Meeting and authorities to step in on such issues of nationwide concern.

Coupang is barely making issues worse by primarily making an attempt to evade disaster by lawsuits and lobbying. If it tries to cowl up the state of affairs once more by leveraging the sway of the US authorities, it’ll deal an excellent better blow to client belief, which is already at a low. The Nationwide Meeting and the federal government should reply sternly to Coupang’s conceitedness.

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