[Anchor]

A court has suspended the Fair Trade Commission's (FTC) decision to designate Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk as the company's de facto leader. We have examined the court's ruling.

Reporter Min Gyeongho has the story.

[Reporter]

In April, the Fair Trade Commission newly designated Kim Bom-suk, Chairman of Coupang Inc., as the company's de facto leader, or "same person" under Korean law.

Once designated as the de facto leader, the individual is subject to regulations against the pursuit of private interests and must annually report and disclose the scope of affiliates, the status of relatives, and their stock transaction records.

In response, Coupang filed an administrative lawsuit along with an application for an injunction to halt the effect of the designation. The Seoul High Court has partially accepted the application.

Upon obtaining and reviewing the court's decision, we found that the court explained its reasoning by stating, "Given the scope of data submission and the additional sanctions that could be imposed in case of non-compliance, there is a demonstrated need to prevent irreparable harm."

Previously, Coupang had argued that designating Chairman Kim as the de facto leader would lead to the disclosure of non-public information.

The company claimed that as a U.S.-listed entity, it must follow the regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and that the designation would require submitting more data to the Korean FTC than what is required by the SEC.

Coupang argued that this could expose the company to class-action lawsuits from investors in the United States.

Some point out that if this logic is accepted in the main lawsuit, it could raise issues of equity between companies listed on the U.S. stock market and those that are not.

[Interview] Oh Se-hyung / Team Leader, Economic Policy Team at Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice: "Despite generating operating profits in Korea, they are trying to be regulated by the U.S. instead, which raises questions about whether this is a shallow trick to avoid regulations by finding a blind spot."

The court's decision also included the fact that about two months before the FTC announced the designation of Chairman Kim as Coupang's de facto leader, the commission had requested both Coupang and Chairman Kim to submit data for the designation, but Chairman Kim had refused.

(Video Editing: Yoo Mi-ra)