Yeo Han-koo, Korea's Minister for Trade, and Jamieson Greer, U.S. Trade Representative. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

U.S. media reports indicate that the "Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Joint Committee" (FTA Joint Committee), which is being pursued by South Korea and the United States as a follow-up measure to tariff negotiations, has been postponed to early next year due to U.S. dissatisfaction with South Korea's promotion of digital regulations.

According to the U.S. political news outlet Politico on the 19th (local time), the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) canceled a previously scheduled closed-door meeting of the FTA Joint Committee.

The report, citing three sources, stated that the reason for the cancellation was that "Seoul (South Korea) pursued digital proposals that the Donald Trump administration deemed discriminatory."

One of the sources said, "The U.S. administration believes that South Korea is not keeping its promises on several priority issues, including the digital sector."

Another source told Politico that the meeting was postponed to early next year due to "some views and differences of opinion" on digital policy, and that the postponement reflected an acknowledgment by both sides that there was not enough time to resolve these differences in a single meeting.

The digital regulations in South Korea that the U.S. is concerned about appear to be related to legislative efforts such as the "Online Platform Act" (OnPlatform Act), which aims to prevent the monopolistic abuses of big tech companies.

The push for the OnPlatform Act, which is also a pledge by President Lee Jae-myung, is facing opposition not only from the U.S. business community but also from Congress.

If the USTR abruptly canceled the meeting due to South Korea's promotion of digital regulations, as reported by Politico, it suggests that even the Trump administration is joining in to pressure South Korea.

Previously, on the 16th, the USTR had warned of "reciprocal measures" in response to the European Union (EU) recently imposing a fine of 120 million euros (approximately 205.9 billion won) on X based on the Digital Services Act (DSA), and initiating investigations into Meta Platforms, Google, and Apple, stating that it would "take a similar approach to other countries pursuing EU-style strategies."

However, the South Korean government's position is that the postponement of the FTA Joint Committee was agreed upon during the prior consultation process of agendas between the two countries.

Earlier, on the 17th (Korean time), Yeo Han-koo, Korea's Minister for Trade, stated at a press briefing, "We had originally planned to hold it within the year, but both sides felt they needed more time for the detailed aspects, so we are discussing the schedule for early next year and constructively discussing the detailed parts."

Meanwhile, regarding some media reports suggesting that the USTR's postponement of the FTA Joint Committee was due to South Korea's pressure on U.S.-listed companies like Coupang, an official familiar with the matter told Yonhap News that "the decision to postpone the Korea-U.S. FTA Joint Committee and the recent Coupang information leak are unrelated."

Coupang, the No. 1 e-commerce company in South Korea, recently faced government investigations and police inquiries due to a large-scale data leak incident. On the 2nd, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, and Broadcasting Communications Committee summoned Coupang's management and severely criticized their inadequate response to the leak.