Three leading U.S. investment firms are taking legal action against the Government of the Republic of Korea, accusing Seoul of launching what they describe as an unprecedented, discriminatory campaign to cripple an American-founded company and punish U.S. investors.
In a major escalation, investment giants Greenoaks, Altimeter, and Foxhaven have served formal notice of intent to file arbitration claims under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) and have also petitioned the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate Korea under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 — a mechanism often associated with aggressive U.S. trade enforcement and retaliatory remedies.
The investment firms argue that Korea’s actions are not routine regulation, but a sustained political assault aimed at targeting Coupang — a U.S.-founded and U.S.-headquartered technology company whose stock is held widely by American pension funds and retail investors. Coupang is often referred to as a “Amazon of Korea” for its dominant position in e-commerce.
According to the filing, Coupang has faced years of selective enforcement and escalating regulatory pressure, including investigations, audits, and on-site inspections across multiple agencies—pressure the firms claim “far exceeds” scrutiny applied to domestic Korean and Chinese competitors.
The firms point to a rapid escalation after Coupang disclosed a 2025 data incident involving a China-based threat actor, in which they claim approximately 3,000 accounts were affected and the stolen information reportedly did not include financial data, government ID numbers, or login credentials. Despite that, the release says Korean officials described the incident in dramatically inflated terms, suggesting “tens of millions of victims” and even implying it could involve home-entry passcodes—claims the investors call false and defamatory.
Then came what the investors describe as a “disproportionate and whole-of-government escalation.” In the weeks after the disclosure, the release claims more than a dozen government bodies mobilized against the company—spanning law enforcement, labor, tax, financial regulators, customs, land use, media, and even national intelligence agencies.
The investment firms also cite statements by senior officials that allegedly crossed the line from enforcement into outright political vengeance.
The release says Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok urged regulators to pursue Coupang “with the same determination used to wipe out mafias,” while other officials allegedly floated the idea of bankrupting the company through massive penalties, revoking licenses, forcing divestitures, and imposing record fines.
The investors also say Korean authorities referred several Coupang executives — including Chairman Bom Kim and Chief Administrative Officer Harold Rogers, both U.S. nationals — for criminal prosecution.
They argue the fallout has been severe for Americans: billions of dollars in lost market capitalization, losses borne by U.S. shareholders and retirement funds.
Public records show Seoul has simultaneously been spending heavily to cultivate influence in Washington — a contradiction critics say is becoming harder for American lawmakers to ignore.
According to lobbying records, South Korea and Korean companies spent more than $300 million on lobbying between 2016 and 2024, making South Korea one of the world’s biggest foreign lobbying spenders in the U.S. — behind only Japan and China.
A quasi-government trade agency, KOTRA, reportedly spent more than $100 million promoting Korea-favorable trade and regulatory policies in Washington, while the Korean embassy has retained multiple major lobbying firms and Korea-linked entities have hired at least 20 influence firms since 2021.
The updated US-Korea trade agreement, released earlier this fall, prohibits Korea from unfairly regulating American companies while allowing Chinese and Korean companies greater flexibility. Trade Minister Yeo aimed to convince lawmakers that the National Assembly’s latest proposed digital trade regulations – including the Online Platform “Fairness” Act – does not discriminate against US companies.
But by all accounts, that message to U.S. officials landed on deaf ears, particularly as Korean lawmakers began pointing to US technology company Coupang as justification for expanding regulations while waging a baseless campaign to shut the company down and jail its executives.
With KORUS arbitration and a Section 301 petition now in play, Washington could soon be forced to decide whether it will tolerate what U.S. investors describe as discrimination against American capital and innovation.
If the allegations are borne out, the dispute could become a flashpoint in the broader debate over whether America’s “allies” are truly acting like allies — or simply leveraging U.S. security commitments while building economic systems designed to handicap U.S. competitors.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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