South Korea’s regulator fines Coupang 300.9 billion won

South Korea’s Korea Fair Trade Commission imposed fines on Coupang and Woowa Brothers on 9 November, saying the food-delivery companies restricted competition through requirements placed on restaurants. The commission said Coupang abused its dominant position in food delivery.

Restaurant requirements

The commission said Coupang required merchants to match favorable terms they offered on rival platforms and penalized those that did not comply. Its requirements covered 6 conditions, including menu prices, minimum order amounts, discounts and delivery charges.

Restaurants that failed to comply risked losing a special designation that let them offer discounts and free delivery to Coupang’s paid-membership customers, the regulator said. It said the share of restaurants meeting the requirements rose from about 13% in July 2023 to nearly 94% in October 2025.

Woowa Brothers operates the rival delivery app Baemin. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment, CNA said.

Coupang plans legal challenge

Coupang called its penalty excessive, saying it was more than 600 times the fine imposed in a comparable 2020 case involving another food-delivery app, and said the commission included revenue unrelated to the alleged conduct when calculating the fine, undermining the company’s right of defense. Coupang said it would challenge the decision through legal proceedings.