This photo shows the headquarters of South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. has established an office in the Chinese border city of Yanji and hired a large number of local employees as part of efforts to diversify overseas direct purchase services through the expansion of its presence in China.
According to industry sources, about 230 employees are currently working at the company’s Yanji office, which was established at the end of last year. The Yanji office is still adding many more to its payroll.
China is the second country after the U.S. in which Coupang has launched an overseas direct purchase service.
‘Made in China’ items accounted for 63.6 percent of South Koreans’ direct purchases from overseas online malls last year, according to Statistics Korea.
Yanji is a small city compared to other Chinese cities with Coupang offices, but it has a unique strength thanks to a large number of Korean Chinese who are fluent in both Korean and Chinese and have a good understanding of Korean culture.
Their vocational capability is similar to that of pure Koreans but their wages are very low at around 700,000-800,000 won (US$568-649) per month.
In addition, to attract more foreign companies, the local government is providing various incentives.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
