South Korea's antitrust regulator announced on Thursday that it has imposed a fine of 2.19 billion won (approximately $1.54 million) on e-commerce giant Coupang, Inc. The penalty was issued because the company pressured suppliers to reduce prices and bear advertising costs to meet its target profit margins.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) stated that Coupang, Inc. was also found to have delayed payments to suppliers and failed to pay overdue interest, which violates the Large Retail Business Fair Trade Act.

Corrective orders have been issued by the FTC to address these violations.

The agency commented, "As a dominant player in the online shopping market, Coupang, Inc. forced suppliers to make concessions to maintain its own profit margins."

The FTC further indicated that the latest action aims to reform Coupang, Inc.'s profit management practices and other core business models involving supplier pressure. The goal is to prevent such incidents from recurring and to improve unfair trade practices in the online shopping sector.