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Special prosecutors raid Labor Ministry as part of investigation into Coupang's unpaid severance pay

Published: 27 Jan. 2026, 14:54 Updated: 27 Jan. 2026, 18:57

Officials are seen during a raid of the Ministry of Labor and Employment as part of its compulsory investigation into allegations of unpaid severance pay for Coupang employees at the government complex in Sejong on Jan. 27. [NEWS1]

A special counsel team raided the Ministry of Employment and Labor Tuesday as part of its compulsory investigation into allegations of unpaid severance pay for Coupang employees.

Special counsel Ann Gweon-seob sent prosecutors and investigators to the ministry's headquarters in the central city of Sejong in the morning to secure data related to its policy guidelines on Coupang's severance pay dispute.

Mobile phones of some ministry officials in charge of labor and retirement pay policies were seized, and the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office was also included in the search and seizure warrant, Ann's office said.

Coupang Fulfillment Services, a logistics subsidiary of Coupang, is suspected of changing its employment rules in May 2023 to the disadvantage its employees who have worked for more than one year and failing to pay their severance pay.

Ann's team recently called in some Ministry of Employment and Labor officials for questioning about the ministry's handling of Coupang's severance pay case.

“The raid on the labor ministry was conducted to confirm various suspicions related to Coupang,” said a special counsel official, refusing to elaborate further.

Yonhap