[Anchor]

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has released an official report alleging that South Korea is engaging in discriminatory treatment of U.S. companies, including Coupang. The report largely reflects the unilateral claims made by Coupang, raising concerns that it could reignite tensions between South Korea and the United States surrounding the company.

Jeon Byeong-nam reports from Washington.

[Reporter]

This is the report released by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Titled "Blocking Competition: South Korea’s Discriminatory Attacks on U.S.-Owned Businesses," the document spans 35 pages.

The report claims that the South Korean government is treating U.S. firms, including Coupang, in a discriminatory manner, asserting that this constitutes a "violation of the U.S.-Korea trade agreement."

It emphasizes that such discriminatory treatment has significantly intensified in recent years, with more than half of the report dedicated to Coupang.

The report characterizes Coupang's personal data breach incident as the result of "unauthorized access to the data system by a disgruntled former employee," and writes that South Korea has escalated its level of aggression into a "government-wide, all-out offensive."

This marks the first time an official report on the Coupang issue has been issued at the U.S. congressional level.

Following the controversy sparked by the large-scale data breach, Coupang has been conducting intensive lobbying efforts targeting U.S. political and government circles, including the White House.

Previously, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee questioned Coupang's Korean entity representative, Jay Jorgensen, and claimed that the South Korean government is pressuring Coupang by mentioning business suspensions or criminal penalties, and even threatening criminal punishment against U.S. citizens.

[Interview] Adrian Smith / Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade (Republican, last February): "South Korea is aggressively targeting U.S. technology leaders. The discriminatory regulations against Coupang are an example of this."

The report also details claims made by Coupang that the National Intelligence Service was deeply involved in the process of handling the company's personal data breach incident.

As this report is the result of a congressional investigation, there is speculation that it could reignite tensions between South Korea and the U.S. over the Coupang issue.

Reported by Jeon Byeong-nam | Video by Park Eun-ha | Video Editing by Jung Yong-hwa