SEOUL, July 05 (AJP) - United States President Donald Trump bought and sold shares of Coupang, the most-popular ecommerce service operator in South Korea, in the months surrounding the e-commerce giant's massive data breach, according to financial disclosure reports filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Three reports released in May and this month show 18 trades in Coupang Inc. shares between October 9 last year and May 22, conducted through two investment accounts run by money managers. The filings suggest Trump likely holds Coupang shares worth up to $130,000 on the books. The annual report, released Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), runs 927 pages and lists transaction values in ranges rather than exact figures, as is standard for such filings.
The trades themselves are modest by the standards of a portfolio that includes multimillion-dollar positions in technology giants. What draws attention is the calendar. The transactions bracket the key moments of a scandal that has grown from a corporate security failure into a diplomatic dispute between Seoul and Washington.
According to the filings, Trump purchased Coupang shares on October 9, in two transactions worth between 1,001 and 15,000 dollars and between 50,001 and 100,000 dollars, followed by a smaller purchase on October 16. Sales came on October 16, November 10 and November 17. Coupang says it detected unauthorized access to customer data on November 18, one day after the last of those sales. The company initially estimated about 4,500 affected accounts before further review showed the breach may have exposed personal information of as many as 33.7 million customers, more than half of South Korea's population.
Trump then bought back in on December 11, with purchases worth between 1,001 and 15,000 dollars and between 50,001 and 100,000 dollars, and added more shares on December 18. By that point, parliamentary hearings in Seoul over the breach were drawing notice in Washington. This year, he purchased shares valued between 100,001 and 250,000 dollars in February before selling in May, a period during which the stock slid from around 18 dollars to the 15-dollar range.
The disclosed returns appear to be minimal. His 2025 filing showed he earned nothing or only small amounts through the Coupang trades, and this year's positions may have produced a loss.
Coupang is no ordinary foreign stock in an American portfolio. Founded in 2010 by Kim Bom-suk, known in the United States as Bom Kim, the company began as a Groupon-style deals site before rebuilding itself around its own warehouses and delivery fleet. Its Rocket Delivery service, launched in 2014, promised overnight or next-day shipping nationwide, with orders placed by midnight arriving the following day. That promise, unusual even by the standards of American e-commerce, made the company a fixture of daily life in South Korea.
The COVID-19 pandemic turned that fixture into a lifeline. With much of the country avoiding stores, office workers and homebound families came to rely on Coupang for groceries, household staples and nearly everything else, delivered to the door before breakfast. The surge carried the company to a New York Stock Exchange debut in March 2021, raising more than 4.5 billion dollars in the largest United States listing by a South Korean company. It also concentrated an enormous share of the nation's personal data, including names, addresses and door entry codes, in a single firm, which is why the breach cut so deep.
There is no indication the trades were directed by the president personally. The White House has said Trump's assets are held in a trust managed by his children. Presidents are not prohibited from holding or trading stocks while in office, but they are required to report their transactions.
The timing lands in a charged moment. A House Judiciary Committee staff report and a White House official recently criticized South Korea's investigations into the breach as discriminatory, and South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission fined Coupang a record 624.7 billion won ($408.3 million)in June, citing internal management failures rather than an outside attack. Seoul's foreign ministry has expressed regret over the House report, saying it reflects only Coupang's side of the story.
Coupang, whose parent company is incorporated in the United States and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has spent more than $ 1 million on lobbying in Washington since the scandal erupted in November, including efforts involving the White House and Congress, according to Lobbying Disclosure Act reports.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.