South Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha answers reporters’ questions as she enters the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on July 15 for a meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. (Yonhap) The South Korean government has submitted a formal rebuttal to a US House Judiciary Committee report alleging that Seoul discriminated against US-listed e-commerce company Coupang through regulatory actions, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.According to the ministry, the South Korean Embassy in Washington delivered a detailed statement to the committee on Thursday, seeking to correct what Seoul described as factual errors in the committee's interim staff report released on July 1 and to explain the government's position.The statement outlines South Korea's principles governing regulatory legislation and enforcement, the nondiscriminatory nature of its digital regulatory framework, the facts surrounding Coupang's personal data breach, the legitimacy of measures taken by the Personal Information Protection Commission — the data protection watchdog here — and the legality of the government's actions involving the company."The government expressed deep regret that the report was based on unverified claims and requested that factual inaccuracies be corrected and important omitted information be added," the ministry said in a statement.The ministry added that Seoul would continue working to ensure the issue does not become a burden on bilateral relations, while maintaining communication with the Judiciary Committee and other US stakeholders to respond to what it described as distortions of the facts by Coupang.The dispute stems from South Korea's regulatory actions following a massive personal data breach at Coupang last year, which exposed the personal information of 37.56 million users.US lawmakers and administration officials have consistently criticized Seoul's handling of the case, arguing that the measures unfairly targeted a US-owned company, while the South Korean government has maintained that the actions were conducted lawfully and applied in a nondiscriminatory manner.The issue resurfaced earlier this month after the House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report titled "Closed for Competition: South Korea's Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses," alleging that South Korean authorities had subjected Coupang to discriminatory regulatory treatment.The report also cited testimony from Harold Rogers, Coupang's general counsel and chief administrative officer, who alleged that the Korean government sought to steer customers away from Coupang in favor of domestic competitors.The report was followed by comments from the White House expressing concern over what it described as the discriminatory targeting of the company by the Lee Jae Myung administration.The Coupang issue has emerged as one of several pending bilateral issues discussed during recent high-level consultations between Seoul and Washington.South Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha returned to Seoul from July 15 to 19 for consultations with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, presidential officials and relevant ministries on pending bilateral matters, including trade, investment and security issues. The meetings took place amid broader efforts by both governments to prevent the dispute from affecting the overall alliance.