SEOUL, October 12 (AJP) - South Korea's antitrust chief urged Coupang on Monday to do more to protect the smaller businesses that sell on its platform. The U.S.-listed e-commerce company already faces scrutiny over its treatment of suppliers, a massive data breach, workplace safety and its lobbying in Washington.
"Coupang should fulfill its social responsibilities in proportion to its growth and become a company that protects the rights of weaker parties," said Ju Biung-ghi, who chairs the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), during a parliamentary audit at the National Assembly.
He was responding to Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Jun-hyeon, who pointed to a sharp rise in dispute mediation cases between Coupang and small businesses.
Ju acknowledged that Coupang had grown quickly and benefited consumers, but warned that restricting the KFTC's investigative powers could seriously undermine the enforcement of laws meant to protect economically vulnerable businesses.
On Aug. 19, KFTC investigators went to Coupang's headquarters to examine allegations that the company had shifted the cost of its price-matching discount coupons onto suppliers. Coupang refused to cooperate, arguing that it had not received the seven days' written notice it says the law requires, and sued two days later to cancel the inspection.
Ju told lawmakers on Aug. 26 that the refusal was unprecedented and that the KFTC planned to file a criminal complaint. The Seoul High Court rejected Coupang's request to suspend the inspection on Sept. 23, and the company appealed to the Supreme Court.
In June, the Personal Information Protection Commission fined Coupang a record 624.7 billion won ($467.9 million) over a breach affecting about 37.5 million people and the collection of about 11.17 million users' activity on other websites and apps without a proper legal basis. The previous record was 134.8 billion won, imposed on SK Telecom.
The commission found that the breach resulted from basic security failures, including poor management of authentication keys and access controls. The exposed information included names, phone numbers, delivery addresses and, in some cases, building entrance access codes.
On Oct. 7, Coupang filed two lawsuits with the Seoul Administrative Court seeking to cancel the fines. When the penalties were announced in June, the company said its measures to prevent further harm had not been sufficiently reflected in the decision.
In March, the Ministry of Employment and Labor launched an industrial safety inspection of Coupang and its logistics subsidiaries following allegations of worker deaths, excessive workloads and the possible concealment of workplace accidents.
Among the cases under scrutiny was the death of delivery worker Jeong Seul-gi in May 2024. Authorities examined allegations that Coupang had pressured his family not to seek industrial accident compensation.
Labor groups have also accused the company of downplaying the circumstances surrounding the death of Jang Deok-jun, a logistics center worker who died of a heart attack in 2020 after an overnight shift.
In August, a forklift operator at a Coupang logistics center in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, was critically injured after being pinned against a structure, and police and labor authorities later searched the facility.
The labor allegations remain under investigation, and the company's legal responsibility has not been established in all cases.
In Washington, Coupang reported spending $1.28 million on lobbying in the second quarter of 2026, according to U.S. federal lobbying disclosure filings, up from $1.09 million in the first quarter and about $500,000 a quarter last year. Its filings list contacts with the White House, Congress and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
On July 1, the Republican-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee released a report accusing South Korean authorities of discriminating against Coupang. Seoul rejected the claim, and Ju told lawmakers on July 28 that the KFTC applies the same standards to domestic platforms like food delivery app operator Baemin and web portal service giant Naver.
South Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha returned to Seoul on July 15 for five days of consultations, on instructions from Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. Speaking to reporters at the Foreign Ministry that day, she called Coupang "a much longer-running issue than I had thought."
Coupang has denied using its lobbying to pressure the South Korean government, saying in April that it focused on economic cooperation, investment, job creation and cross-border commerce.
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said on July 22 that Coupang had been discussed during Kang's visit and that any tariffs Washington imposes under Section 301, a U.S. trade law used against practices it deems unfair, were not expected to exceed the rates the two countries had already agreed.
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