[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] During the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit, criticisms regarding Coupang's governance structure were repeatedly raised.
On the 20th, Song Jaeho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized Kang Hanseung, CEO of Coupang, during witness questioning, saying, "Coupang is considered a Korean branch of an American company."
Song also targeted Kim Beomseok, Coupang's founder, stating, "When a fire broke out at the logistics center, he resigned as chairman of the board and fled to the United States," and claimed, "He is controlling Korean Coupang using dual-class voting rights from the U.S." This pointed to Kim's resignation from all positions at Korean Coupang in June.
Fellow party members Oh Kihyung and Lee Yongwoo also accused Kim of effectively making Coupang a U.S. corporation, citing that Kim holds 10.2% of shares in the U.S. entity Coupang Inc. and exercises 76.7% of voting rights through dual-class shares.
In response, CEO Kang stated, "It was established under Korean law, employs many people in Korea, and pays taxes here, so it is a Korean company."
During the audit, questions were also raised about whether Coupang used information from its partner sellers to develop private label products.
Representative Oh asked about Coupang spinning off the business division responsible for private label products into a subsidiary, inquiring, "After the spin-off, was information data from partner sellers, who could be considered competitors, shared?"
CEO Kang replied, "To the best of my knowledge, individual seller information is not used."
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