In this opinion piece on RealClearEnergy.org, EFTC Executive Director Bret Manley argues that the U.S. Department of Treasury should consider adding major South Korean firms to the UFLPA Entity List. Read Bret’s thoughts below:
Securing American Energy: Why Treasury Must Curb China-Linked South Korean Manufacturers
The House Judiciary Committee recently released a new report exposing a stunning covert operation at the heart of South Korea’s campaign against American business. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service directed a secret recovery mission inside China to retrieve a stolen laptop containing sensitive customer data belonging to Coupang, the Seattle-based U.S. company often called the “Amazon of Korea.” When Coupang’s interim CEO testified truthfully about the government’s role, South Korean officials publicly berated him and threatened perjury charges. The Korea Fair Trade Commission then hit Coupang with a record $410 million fine.
This episode is not isolated. It reveals how South Korea’s current left-wing government, led by President Lee Jae-myung, functions as a de facto proxy for Chinese interests. Rather than acting as a reliable ally, Seoul increasingly weaponizes regulatory and intelligence tools to disadvantage U.S. companies while shielding or favoring China-linked competitors. The report details a pattern of discriminatory enforcement that undermines the U.S.-South Korea alliance and harms American investors, including pension funds holding stakes in targeted firms.
Compounding the problem is South Korea’s proposed Online Platform Fairness Act. Pushed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission under the same administration, the measure would dramatically expand the government’s power to regulate transactions involving foreign platforms. Independent modeling by the Competere Foundation estimates this law could drain $525 billion in economic activity from U.S. states over the next decade—$123 billion from California alone, plus tens of billions from Texas, New York, and Washington. American households would lose nearly $4,000 each on average. The legislation is openly protectionist, designed to hobble U.S. tech leaders while creating openings for domestic and, indirectly, Chinese players.
These government actions are matched by flagrant violations of U.S. law by South Korean companies operating in the U.S. Hanwha Qcells, the Korean solar manufacturer, has already booked $230 million in Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and stands to claim more than $900 million annually through 2032. Yet Chinese filings show key suppliers sourced polysilicon from Xinjiang entities sanctioned for forced labor. Another direct supplier ended up on the UFLPA Entity List. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently detained Qcells solar cells imported from Korea, triggering five months of supply-chain disruptions at its Georgia plants. In response, the company furloughed roughly 1,000 American employees—one-third of its local workforce. Researchers have repeatedly flagged “very high risk” of Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) violations in Hanwha’s supply chains. A Korean firm is earning massive revenue and extracting hundreds of millions—and potentially billions—from U.S. taxpayers while its upstream operations remain entangled with the very forced-labor networks American law seeks to exclude.
The disregard for U.S. rules extends to immigration enforcement. At major Korean-owned manufacturing sites in Georgia, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted the largest single workplace raid in history, arresting 475 workers—including 300 South Koreans—for illegal employment through visa overstays and misuse of the Visa Waiver Program. Similar concerns have surfaced at Qcells facilities. These companies receive billions in federal subsidies while subcontractors exploit loopholes to import cheap foreign labor, displacing American workers and undercutting wages in the very sectors Washington claims to be rebuilding.
South Korean firms are now positioned to capture billions more in U.S. tax credits for solar modules, cells, and battery components under the 45X program and related alternative energy incentives. Hanwha Qcells dominates large portions of U.S. crystalline silicon capacity. LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI are scaling massive LFP battery plants for energy storage. These incentives were designed to reduce dependence on China and create American jobs. Instead, they subsidize companies whose home government acts as Beijing’s proxy—harassing U.S. firms, advancing laws that could cost American states half a trillion dollars, and tolerating practices that trigger CBP detentions and furloughs of U.S. workers.
Treasury has both the authority and the obligation to consider designating prohibited foreign entities when national security, supply-chain integrity, and fair competition are threatened. Given South Korea’s documented pattern of proxy behavior for China, its discriminatory targeting of American companies, and the ongoing legal violations by its flagship manufacturers, the Department should formally consider adding major South Korean firms to the entity lists. Only then will U.S. incentives serve American workers and security interests rather than subsidizing entities tied to adversarial influence.