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Vance warns Korean prime minister against 'penalizing' Coupang, other U.S. tech firms: WSJ

Published: 28 Jan. 2026, 08:45

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks at a rally in Washington on Jan. 23. [AP/YONHAP]

U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned Korea's Prime Minister Kim Min-seok against "penalizing" e-commerce giant Coupang and other U.S. tech firms during their recent talks, a report said Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump said he will raise "reciprocal" and other tariffs on the Asian country.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the meeting between Kim and Vance at the White House last week, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, as U.S. lawmakers and investors have claimed that Korea's investigation into Coupang over a massive customer data leak is "discriminatory."

After the meeting with Vance, Kim told reporters that Vance requested Seoul ensure that the issue surrounding Coupang would not cause "misunderstandings" between the two governments, while stressing that Seoul-Washington ties are "firm enough not to be swayed by a particular company's lobbying."

The Seoul government has been conducting a probe into the data leak incident, in which about 33.7 million customers are believed to have been affected. Coupang has claimed a perpetrator accessed data from only about 3,000 of the accounts in question.

On Thursday, two U.S. investors in Coupang notified Seoul of their intent to bring arbitration claims against it over what they called "discriminatory" acts toward the company and requested a U.S. government probe into the matter.

Yonhap