U.S. Representative Darrell Issa (Republican, California) has issued a warning to South Korea.

On the 27th (local time), Issa posted on X (formerly Twitter), "A warning to our long-standing ally, South Korea. The act of not honoring agreements and targeting American companies and their American workers – especially Coupang – will not be tolerated by our Congress and our President," he stated.

He made these remarks citing a statement by President Donald Trump on Truth Social the previous day announcing increased tariffs on South Korean goods.

In a post on the House Judiciary Committee Republicans' X account, it was stated, "This is what happens when you unfairly target American companies like Coupang," and the post shared President Trump's announcement of increased tariffs.

This connects President Trump's measure to increase tariffs on South Korea to the Coupang situation.

Rep. Issa is a veteran congressman who has served for 26 years since 2001 and currently chairs the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet under the House Judiciary Committee, and also serves as Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He is also a member of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust under the House Judiciary Committee, and is also a member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations under the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Previously, from January 2011 to January 2015, he served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

This is why his warning to South Korea is not to be taken lightly.

A comment on the post stated that Yuhan-Kimberly, a joint venture between South Korea's Yuhan Corporation and the U.S.'s Kimberly-Clark, with Kimberly-Clark as the largest shareholder, legally established and operated in Korea, could be subject to a special tax investigation by the U.S. because the majority of its shares are held by an American company.

The comment pointed out, "President Lee Jae-myung has also proposed the release of low-priced sanitary pads, citing excessively high prices," adding, "This appears to be targeting sanitary product manufacturers like Yuhan-Kimberly," and asserted, "This is another act that can be seen as hostile towards the United States."

Regarding the personal information leak incident that occurred in November 2025, Coupang announced that detailed investigation results indicated approximately 3,000 cases. However, the issue escalated when the Korean police announced that the extent of the damage was over 33.7 million cases.

Furthermore, the controversy grew when it was revealed that a former employee of Chinese nationality was able to access Coupang's servers even after leaving the company and exfiltrated information from internal systems for about five months.

The South Korean National Assembly held a hearing and launched a fact-finding investigation, during which the controversy of targeting an American company emerged.

Coupang announced it would compensate users with coupons worth 50,000 won per person, totaling $1.18 billion, for the personal information leak incident.

The police have requested Coupang's CEO, Harold Rogers, to appear by January 30th and stated that they are considering an arrest warrant if he fails to comply.

As the National Assembly hearings, state audits, and police investigations progressed against Coupang, its stock price plummeted. Coupang's U.S. investors, Greenoaks and Altimeter, filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), labeling the South Korean government's investigation as "discriminatory measures" against an American company, and announced they would file lawsuits against the South Korean government.

There is suspicion within U.S. political circles that the Lee Jae-myung administration intends to cede the South Korean market to Chinese companies like Alibaba and Temu while undermining the American company Coupang, and the prevailing analysis is that such suspicions could lead to tariff retaliation against South Korea.

In fact, while the Lee Jae-myung administration stated it had obtained an arrest warrant for the Chinese former employee who stole the data and requested the extradition of the criminal from China, it has not received any response or action from the Chinese side, yet it is forcing criminal investigations upon Coupang.

NNP=Hong Sung-goo, Chief Reporter / Special Correspondent of this newspaper NNP info@newsandpost.com