SEOUL, April 29 (UPI) -- South Korea's Fair Trade Commission on Wednesday designated Kim Bom, the founder of U.S.-listed e-commerce giant Coupang, as the company's controlling entity, a decision at the center of a dispute straining ties between Seoul and Washington.
Coupang, South Korea's largest e-commerce platform, is legally a U.S. company -- incorporated in Delaware, headquartered in Seattle and listed on the New York Stock Exchange -- even as the bulk of its business and customers are based in South Korea.
The decision, which places the company under greater oversight by Seoul regulators, comes in the wake of a massive data breach last year that has reverberated beyond the corporate sphere and into the political and diplomatic arena.
The breach exposed the personal information of roughly 33 million users after a stolen internal security key enabled unauthorized access, sparking public outrage, consumer boycotts and criticism that the company sought to downplay the severity of the incident.
It also triggered a sweeping response by South Korean authorities, including raids, audits and parliamentary inquiries, and quickly escalated into a diplomatic flashpoint.
