Coupang's 33.7M User Data Leak Ignites US-Korea Trade Friction Warning from Former Trump Adviser

A data leak in Seoul is sparking a trade war warning in Washington. Robert O'Brien, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, has condemned the South Korean parliament's investigation into e-commerce giant Coupang over a massive data breach, calling it an "aggressive targeting" of the U.S.-listed company and hinting at broader geopolitical consequences.

O'Brien's Warning on X

In a social media post on Tuesday, December 23, O'Brien wrote that the "National Assembly's aggressive targeting of Coupang will set the stage for further KFTC discriminatory measures & broader regulatory barriers towards U.S. firms." According to Yonhap News Agency, he called for a "strong, coordinated U.S. response" to protect American companies and "maintain strategic balance against China's growing economic influence in the sector."

The Breach: 33.7 Million Customers Exposed

The controversy began last month, in November 2025, when Coupang disclosed that the personal data of 33.7 million customers had been leaked. The compromised information reportedly included names, phone numbers, and email addresses. This disclosure triggered intense scrutiny from South Korean regulators and lawmakers over the company's data security protocols—a standard response in most countries to a data breach of this magnitude.

From Tech Regulation to Geopolitics

O'Brien explicitly linked the Coupang probe to his former boss's efforts to "rebalance" the trade relationship with South Korea. He warned it would be "very unfortunate" if Korea undermines those efforts by targeting U.S. tech firms. His comments appear to be an attempt to frame a domestic regulatory issue as a part of the larger economic competition between the United States and China, leveraging Coupang's status as a New York Stock Exchange-listed company.