Regional Champions
A massive data breach at huge online retailer Coupang, which is registered and listed in the U.S., has both countries claiming the right to act.
South Korea wants to punish its biggest online retailer for a massive data leak. The U.S. is stepping in to shield Coupang, because even though it operates almost entirely in South Korea, it is registered as an American company.
Since last November, Coupang has been under fire after South Korean regulators found a former employee used a stolen security key to access personal information from 33.7 million accounts, about two-thirds of the population, over months without anyone noticing. South Korea’s science ministry called it a management failure, and regulators have opened separate investigations into algorithm rigging and unfair business practices.
Fifty-four Republican lawmakers wrote to South Korea’s ambassador on April 20, accusing the country of a “whole-of-government assault” on Coupang after the data breach. The letter accused South Korea of unfairly raiding Coupang’s offices, imposing fines and tax audits, threatening to revoke its business license, and pressuring South Korean public pension funds to dump their Coupang holdings.
