Ninety-six liberal lawmakers on Tuesday urged the US Congress to respect South Korea's judicial sovereignty in a letter to the US ambassador to South Korea, countering allegations of discriminatory actions against e-commerce firm Coupang and other US companies.
In the letter sent Tuesday, the lawmakers stressed that the probe into Coupang over a range of allegations, such as a massive consumer data leak involving over 33 million users and unfair business practices, "must, in all circumstances, be conducted independently and free from external pressure."
"The investigation and adjudication of alleged criminal conduct are the exclusive authority of a sovereign state," reads the letter to the US ambassador, as disclosed by Rep. Park Hong-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea on Tuesday.
The letter was co-signed by 90 lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party and minor liberal parties — the Rebuilding Korea Party, Social Democratic Party and Progressive Party — as well as left-leaning independent lawmakers. The letter will go to Michelle Park Steel, nominee for US ambassador to South Korea, according to Park's office.
"No individual or corporation can stand above or outside its legal system," read the letter.
The letter also noted that the US was attempting to associate the bilateral trade and security issues with a probe into a specific individual, which not only "calls into question the integrity and foundations of the alliance itself," but also "set(s) an undesirable precedent."
"It may create the appearance that private interests are given undue weight in matters that properly fall within the independent judicial processes of a sovereign state," the letter posits.
Tuesday's letter came in response to a letter from 54 US Republican lawmakers to South Korean Ambassador to the US Kang Kyung-wha. Released on April 21, the letter urged the South Korean government to end the "targeted assault of American companies" and to "cease (South Korea's) persecution of Coupang and other American companies operating in South Korea."
"The systematic targeting of American companies such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Coupang is particularly concerning because these businesses serve as an important economic bridge between our two countries," read the letter led by US Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Washington state.
"Unfortunately, (South Korea) recently leveraged a low-sensitivity data leak in November 2025 as a pretext to launch a whole-of-government assault on Coupang."
At a press conference held at the National Assembly, some lawmakers condemned Coupang's "lies" to US authorities in its lobbying attempts, while blasting US lawmakers' request to end legal actions against Coupang for being "unjust."
"I can't understand what lies (Coupang founder) Kim Bom-suk was making in Washington, and how US congresspeople could send such a letter (based on these lies)," said Park.
"The US Congress' intervention in South Korea's criminal proceedings is undermining the foundation for the rule of law, so I thought the National Assembly should not remain silent over the matter."
Rep. Lee Hoon-ki of the Democratic Party, who recently traveled to the US capital in March to meet US lawmakers, echoed Park's stance that Coupang was making false statements about its data leak and other legal troubles it was facing, saying US lawmakers he met "were unaware of" facts he brought up about the Coupang case.
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