A probe by South Korea's fair trade watchdog into Coupang appears to have hit a setback, industry sources said Thursday. In this December 2025 photo, a Coupang sign is seen on an office building in the Ttukseom area of Seoul. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
The fair trade watchdog's probe into the South Korean arm of U.S.-listed Coupang Inc. appears to have hit a setback after the e-commerce giant refused investigators' recent attempts to conduct on-site inspections, citing procedural issues, industry sources said Thursday.
According to sources, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) had planned to conduct on-site inspections of Coupang's South Korean unit from last week through this week over allegations that the company violated the Act on Fair Transactions in Large Retail Business.
The allegations center on suspicions that Coupang shifted the costs of discounts onto its suppliers.
Sources said Coupang declined to cooperate with the investigation, claiming that the company had not been notified of the inspections as stipulated under the Framework Act on Administrative Investigations.
