South Korea’s anti-trust regulator has designated Coupang founder Bom Kim as the de facto controlling entity of the e-commerce giant, a major revision that comes five years after the company was first categorized as a conglomerate.
Posted by Freewhale98
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1. Summary
Korean Fair Trade Commission designated Bom Kim, the founder of Coupang as “identical person” to Coupang.
Its basis for replacing Coupang’s Korean corporate entity as the de facto controller of the conglomerate was the company’s failure to meet the exemption criteria for designation as a corporation after Bom Kim’s brother, Kim Yoo-suk, was found to be taking part in management activities in South Korea.
Through this designation, Bom Kim is classified as Chaebol and would be considered legal considered same as Coupang. So, Bom Kim can be criminal prosecuted for the crimes of Coupang.
2. How is this related to the sub
(1) Anti-trust regulation and corporate governance regulation: An introduction on the concept of “identical person”, a de facto controller. This regulation emerges from unique Korean chaebol structure. Through this legal theory, Korean government can impose criminal inducement against the head of company for the crimes of the company.
3. My opinion
As I researched Coupang…it operates more like Korean company rather an American one. It has chaebol structure, its earnings mostly comes from Korea. It’s just their HQ is located in Seattle and in bed with MAGA movement. I cannot believe Americans are rallying around this criminal company with borderline Korean identity.