Coupang has filed a lawsuit against the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), seeking to overturn the regulator's decision to designate Coupang Inc. Chairman Kim Bom-suk as the "same person," or group chief (chongsu), of the e-commerce giant.
According to the retail industry on Tuesday, Coupang filed a lawsuit with the Seoul High Court on Friday against the FTC to revoke the same-person designation change. The company also submitted a request for an injunction related to the designation on Saturday.
The legal action is seen as a response to the FTC's decision on Nov. 29 to change Coupang's designated same person to Chairman Kim. Previously, Coupang's same person had been the Coupang corporate entity itself. This marks the first time the FTC has changed Coupang's same-person designation since the company was named a business group subject to disclosure in 2021, with total assets exceeding 5 trillion won.
The basis for the change was that Kim Yu-seok, the chairman's younger brother, effectively participates in Coupang's management. The FTC concluded that Coupang did not meet the "non-participation of relatives in management" condition, one of the requirements under the Fair Trade Act's enforcement decree that allows a corporate entity to be designated as the same person, and therefore shifted the designation to Chairman Kim as a natural person.
In response, Coupang has maintained that "Chairman Kim and his relatives do not hold any stakes in the Korean affiliates, so there is no concern about private benefit appropriation."
