U.S. Reportedly Demands Promise of Safety for Coupang's Bom Kim, Tying High-Level Diplomatic and Security Talks to the Issue

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[The Financial News] The U.S. government has reportedly been asking the South Korean government since last month to provide legal safeguards for Bom Kim, chairman of the board of Coupang, Inc. South Korea is said to have effectively rejected Washington's demand to tie a private company issue to diplomatic and security matters.
On the 21st, SBS reported that the U.S. government told Seoul that it would be difficult to hold high-level bilateral talks on diplomatic and security issues, including nuclear-powered submarines, unless legal measures were taken to ensure that Kim would not face a travel ban, arrest, or detention if he visits South Korea.
Police are currently investigating Coupang's personal data breach and have requested that the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) issue an alert to be notified if Kim enters the country.
In response to the U.S. request, South Korea is understood to have told the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Korea and others that "the investigation is proceeding lawfully, and the diplomatic authorities cannot promise the safety of any specific individual."
The U.S. government has already been pressuring South Korea over matters involving Kim and Coupang. It also raised the issue during Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's visit to the United States last month.
Analysts say this background may explain why follow-up talks between South Korea and the United States on Seoul's planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, agreed last year, and on expanding rights to reprocess spent nuclear fuel have made little visible progress.
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter