Coupang headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
Coupang headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

The South Korean Embassy in the United States has replied to a letter from US Republican lawmakers taking issue with what they described as discriminatory regulations against e-commerce giant Coupang and other American companies, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Late last month, 54 Republican members of the US House affiliated with the Republican Study Committee (RSC) released a letter they sent to South Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha, in which they urged Seoul to halt what they called unfair treatment of US firms, including Coupang.

Seoul's foreign ministry said the embassy sent a reply under Kang's name, stressing that investigations and measures related to Coupang are being conducted in a "fair" and "non-discriminatory" way in accordance with relevant domestic laws and regulations.

"The government will continue to follow a non-discriminatory policy toward US digital firms, including Coupang, and explain its position to the US Congress," a foreign ministry official said.

Seoul and Washington have been at odds over what some in the United States view as unfair treatment of the US-listed e-commerce giant currently under probe in Seoul over its massive breach of personal information involving more than 33 million users.