A court has put the brakes on the Fair Trade Commission’s decision to designate Coupang Inc chairman Kim Bum-seok (김범석) as the conglomerate’s controlling shareholder. The decision is suspended until the main lawsuit is concluded, allowing Kim to retain corporate status for the time being.

The Seoul High Court’s Administrative Division 7, presided over by Judge Soon-hyeong Kwon, on Monday partly granted Coupang’s request to suspend enforcement of the KFTC’s decision to change the designated controlling shareholder. The court decided to suspend the effect of the change in designation made by the KFTC as of May 1 until 30 days after the main ruling is delivered. An April 8 KFTC order demanding submission of materials related to Kim is also suspended for the same period.

The court said there was an urgent need to prevent irreparable harm to the applicants and that there was no material showing it would run counter to the public interest. The same reasoning applied to suspending the effect of the document submission request.

The decision follows KFTC action on April 29. The KFTC changed the designated controlling shareholder of the Coupang business group from the corporate entity Coupang to Kim, a natural person. It marked the first time a designated controlling shareholder has been changed since Coupang was included in 2021 among disclosure-designated business groups with total assets of at least 5 trillion won.

The key basis for the KFTC’s decision was Kim Yoo-seok (김유석), Kim’s younger brother. The KFTC viewed Kim Yoo-seok as effectively participating in Coupang’s management, and said this meant the case fell outside the exceptional conditions under which the controlling shareholder can be designated as a corporate entity rather than a natural person.

Coupang challenged the decision. It argued there was no risk of private-interest seeking because Kim and his relatives do not hold stakes in the group’s Korean affiliates. Coupang filed a lawsuit on May 8 seeking to overturn the change in designation and also requested a stay of enforcement, which the court partly granted on Monday.