The Guardian | How a simple consumer data breach spiralled into a national security crisis in US-South Korea relations by Raphael Rashid in Seoul

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South Korea’s largest e‑commerce platform, Coupang, disclosed that a former employee stole a security key in 2025, exposing the personal data of 33.7 million users. The breach sparked a massive Korean response—including police raids, a tax audit and parliamentary hearings—while the company’s founder, Korean‑American billionaire Bom Kim, declined to return to Seoul for questioning. Washington, under the Trump administration, warned it would suspend high‑level diplomatic and defence talks unless Seoul ensured Kim faced no legal repercussions, linking the corporate scandal to broader security concerns and straining U.S.–South Korea relations. The dispute has already affected talks on nuclear‑powered submarines and prompted U.S. investors to seek arbitration under the free‑trade pact, while Coupang has spent over $3 million lobbying Washington in 2025 and doubled its lobbying budget in early 2026, underscoring how economic issues are increasingly intertwined with alliance politics.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/24/coupang-data-breach-south-korea-us-relations

#BomKim #Coupang #south-korea #U.S.–Korea #dataandcomputersecurity

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