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The Coupang headquarters in Seoul. / Photo courtesy of Yonhap News

The court has partially accepted Coupang's request to suspend the execution of the Fair Trade Commission's (FTC) decision to designate Kim Bom, chairman of the board at Coupang Inc., as the company's "same person" (de facto conglomerate chief).

The Seoul High Court's Administrative Division 7, presided over by Senior Judge Kwon Soon-hyung, partially granted the application for suspension of execution filed by Coupang and others against the FTC on July 14. Consequently, the effect of the designation change will be suspended until 30 days after the ruling on the merits is announced. In addition, the effect of the request for submission of materials regarding Chairman Kim will also be suspended for the same period.

"There is an urgent need to prevent irreparable damage that could be caused to the applicant (Coupang), and there is no evidence to suggest that suspending the effect would run counter to public welfare," the court stated.

On April 29, the FTC changed Coupang's de facto leader designation from the corporate entity to Chairman Kim as an individual. The antitrust regulator based its decision on the premise that Chairman Kim's younger brother is practically participating in Coupang's management, meaning the company no longer met the exceptional criteria to designate a legal entity rather than a natural person as the de facto chief.

In response, Coupang filed a lawsuit challenging the decision, arguing, "Chairman Kim and his relatives hold no shares in Korean affiliates, meaning there is absolutely no risk of tunneling (private profit-taking)."

                                                                                                         Son Seung-hyun