US Postpones Security Talks with South Korea Over Coupang CEO's Legal Protection in Data Breach

Diplomatic tensions between the United States and South Korea have escalated over a data breach at retailer Coupang, with Washington signaling it would halt high-level security consultations unless Seoul guarantees no legal consequences for the company's CEO in connection with the incident. The dispute has affected talks on US support for South Korea’s development of nuclear-powered submarines.

A scheduled visit from a US delegation has been postponed, according to Korean officials.

The breach, which compromised tens of millions of customer accounts, was disclosed last year and has grown into the current diplomatic storm between Seoul and the Trump administration. Coupang operates from Seattle, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is run by Korean-American billionaire Bom Kim. South Korean authorities responded swiftly to the breach.

Police raided Coupang’s Seoul headquarters, tax authorities launched a special audit, and parliament summoned executives for questioning. Bom Kim refused to travel to Korea for hearings, citing his role as a global chief executive, prompting Korean police to request that immigration authorities notify them if he enters the country.

Korean broadcaster SBS reported that Washington signaled it would not proceed with high-level diplomatic and defense consultations without guarantees for Kim.

South Korea’s foreign ministry stated that “security discussions should proceed separately from the Coupang matter” and that investigations of the data breach would continue under Korean law. The US embassy in Seoul refused to comment on the Coupang matter.

The tensions add to a series of frictions under President Trump. In January, Trump threatened to raise tariffs on South Korean goods from 15% to 25%. In September, an immigration raid at a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Georgia detained more than 300 South Korean workers.

The US has also reportedly partly restricted intelligence sharing after South Korea’s unification minister publicly identified a suspected North Korean nuclear site. Coupang spent over $3m lobbying the US government in 2025, bringing its total spending since 2021 to more than $11m, according to public data compiled by OpenSecrets, a non-profit that tracks lobbying.

In the first quarter of 2026, Coupang doubled its spending on Washington lobbying compared to the same period in 2025. Coupang's Q1 2026 lobbying filings show outreach to the White House, including the executive office of the president and the vice-president’s office.

In January, vice-president JD Vance raised the Coupang issue when South Korean prime minister Kim Min-seok visited Washington, expressing hope it could be “resolved fairly to avoid tension”. On 21 April, 54 Republican members of Congress wrote to South Korea’s ambassador accusing Seoul of “discriminatory actions” against US companies and of launching a “whole-of-government assault” on Coupang over what they characterised as a “low-sensitivity data leak”.

Five US investment firms that hold Coupang shares filed notices earlier this year of intent to pursue arbitration against South Korea under the US-Korea free trade agreement, claiming Seoul’s enforcement response was disproportionate compared to similar cases involving Korean companies. The arbitration process remains active.

Jaechun Kim, a professor of international relations at Sogang University in Seoul, said the fundamental issue is not whether South Korea has the legal right to regulate companies in its jurisdiction but how such actions are perceived and politicized within the alliance framework.

The Trump administration’s tendency to blur economic and security issues into a single transactional framework means disputes like Coupang could spill over into areas that were previously insulated from retaliation, including nuclear cooperation agreements, advanced technology sharing, or even defense procurement decisions, Jaechun Kim added.