Prime Minister Kim: "U.S. Vice President asked that both sides manage the Coupang issue to avoid misunderstandings"

According to The Financial News, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok of the Republic of Korea said, "JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States, indicated that he understood the Coupang issue, saying he assumed there must have been some legal problems under the Korean system regarding the matter." He added, "Vice President Vance asked that we manage this issue well on both sides so that it does not become overheated and does not create misunderstandings between our two governments."
While visiting the United States, Kim Min-seok held a meeting with correspondents on the 23rd (local time) at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States of America in Washington, D.C. There he briefed them on his talks earlier that day at the White House with Vice President Vance. Kim explained, "I made it clear that there has been no discriminatory treatment of a U.S. company regarding the Coupang issue, and Vice President Vance, fully understanding the different circumstances facing the U.S. company Coupang in Korea, wanted to know in concrete terms what exactly is at issue."
Kim Min-seok went on, "I explained that, in this case, there was a problem in that the resolution was delayed even though the personal information of a substantial portion of our citizens had been leaked, and that, moreover, there had recently been groundless attacks directed at President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea and the Prime Minister of South Korea." He added, "I also handed over, on the spot, an English translation of our press release, which refuted as completely baseless the claim that I had ordered a particularly discriminatory and aggressive investigation targeting Coupang, by disclosing the full transcript of my remarks at the time."
The "groundless attacks" on President Lee Jae-myung and the Prime Minister of South Korea that Kim Min-seok mentioned refer to a move by two U.S. investment firms holding shares in Coupang, which the previous day had issued a press release asking the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to take action over the Korean government’s handling of the Coupang case. The investment firms had claimed that "Prime Minister Kim urged government regulators, in connection with law enforcement over Coupang’s data leak incident, to proceed with the same determination as when cracking down on the mafia."
In response, the Office for Government Policy Coordination stated in an explanatory release that the remark in question was "intended to strictly correct the unfair practices that have accumulated in the Korean economy and, by establishing a fair market order, to create an economic environment trusted by investors." It stressed, "It was not a statement to the effect that we would strongly sanction or punish specific companies or companies from specific countries, and in fact the remarks did not mention any particular company or country, including Coupang, at all."
On December 19 last year, during policy briefings from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), Kim Min-seok said, "Act according to principle, do not worry about manpower, and impose strong economic sanctions," adding, "I believe we must establish market order with the same resolve as when we restore order by cracking down on the mafia."
Coupang’s U.S. investment firms, in their Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) notice of arbitration, argued that this remark was "aimed at Coupang."
cafe9@fnnews.com Lee Gu-soon Reporter