FIRST ON FOX: Members of Congress blasted South Korean leadership over a “left-wing government closely aligned with China,” that they accused of “attacking” American companies and showing favoritism to Chinese-led businesses. 

In a letter led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., more than 50 members of the House of Representatives expressed their concern to Republic of Korea (ROK) Ambassador to the United States Kyung-wha Kang over what they deemed to be “discriminatory” business practices from the ROK.  

“Many American tech companies have faced a range of regulatory actions that seek to punish them while shielding Korean domestic competition,” the letter reads. “Recent research by think tank Competere shows such regulatory actions by the ROK government will cost $1 trillion in combined economic damage to the U.S. and Korean economies over the next 10 years, with the U.S. economy losing $525 billion and American households losing nearly $4,000 each.”

“We are committed to ensuring that your government ceases its persecution of Coupang and other American companies operating in South Korea,” the letter continues. “The stakes for American economic and security interests are enormous.”

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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)

Issa sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the letter and what’s at stake for U.S. companies if the ROK continues its alleged bias. 

“South Korea is still an important strategic partner, but their last election led to a left-wing government closely aligned with China that, among other things, has begun attacking American companies, companies as large as Meta, but also one that you probably don’t know called Coupang, who they’re basically the Amazon of South Korea,” Issa told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., was caught on a hot mic discussing a congressional race after California voters approved on a new redistricting plan. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“But they’re owned by and founded by a Korean-American and they have been systematically attacked quite frankly, probably because they’re an American company and effectively a unicorn in South Korea,” Issa added. “We’re seeing that South Korea has adopted the European digital rules which are very much designed to localize rather than accept the great companies that have spread very well around the world because they’ve earned it.”

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Yoon Suk-yeol, of the People Power Party was elected as president in 2022 but was impeached in December 2024, largely for his attempt to declare martial law. 

Lee Jae-myung, of the Democratic Party, who was defeated by Yoon in 2022, was elected in 2025. The South Korean National Assembly holds a strong majority by the county’s Democratic Party, and the ROK is now governed by a full Democratic majority for the first time in four years. 

The Democratic party is the main liberal thinking party in the ROK, which favors progressive domestic policies as opposed to conservative beliefs that have previously reduced political engagement with North Korea and promoted relations with the U.S.

This picture taken on Feb. 2, 2026, and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on Feb. 3, 2026, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering a speech at the inauguration of the Samgwang Stockbreeding Farm in North Pyongan Province, North Korea. (KCNA via KNS/AFP via Getty Images)

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Given the situation in Iran, Issa compared the alliance of nations like North Korea and China siding with the Iranian regime to the era of former President Ronald Reagan, as he alleged South Korea is straying from its trade relationships with the U.S. 

“The fact is that as we go back into an alignment that looks a lot like the Cold War, where China and Russia have become strategic partners, where they’re picking off people to be with them, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela until recently, and obviously Iran, it has become very much like the period of time when Ronald Reagan was president,” Issa told Fox News Digital. 

The U.S. and the ROK established the KORUS FTA (U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement) in 2018, which serves to promote trade between the two allied countries.

President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base on Oct. 30, 2025, in Busan, South Korea. Trump said he wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open in the Middle East for countries, including China. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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When asked if alleged favoritism toward Chinese and other nations violated the KORUS FTA or any other preexisting trade agreements between the U.S. and the ROK, Issa told Fox News Digital that the agreements can be used as leverage if the ROK leadership doesn’t correct course. 

“South Korea depends on the United States for a sale of Hyundai, Kia, obviously the Samsung line and others,” Issa explained. “Our free trade agreement allows that product to come in at the lowest possible rate, in some cases still zero. If they want that benefit, we have to use that leverage.”

Issa noted the importance of non-tariff barriers in South Korea and their effects on U.S. companies.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., attends the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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“[We need] to make sure that they are not just tariffing our companies, but also not using other non-tariff trade barriers, clearly with Meta and Coupang and others,” Issa said. 

“And by the way, we still have over 25,000 troops [in the ROK], Issa added. “We have a strategic partnership with them that keeps North Korea from reuniting the country under a communist government.”