194 sanctions recorded, fines totaling 340.17 billion won ($224 million); record annual fines possible this year
A sharp rise in cartel detections last year pushed the Korea Fair Trade Commission's number of fines to its highest level in a decade, though the total amount collected fell as fewer large-scale cases were handled.
According to the Fair Trade Commission's 2025 Statistical Yearbook, released Monday, the number of fines imposed last year reached 194 — up 56.5 percent from 124 the previous year and the highest since 2015, when 202 fines were issued.
The total number of cases handled last year fell 3.7 percent to 2,404 from 2,496 the year before, yet the number of fines moved sharply in the opposite direction. After hovering between 112 and 128 from 2021 to 2024, the figure jumped to 194 last year. However, the total amount of fines imposed dropped 19.5 percent to 340.17 billion won from 422.66 billion won the previous year.
The total fine amount has been on a downward trend since topping 1 trillion won — at 1.0084 trillion won — in 2021. It fell to 822.37 billion won in 2022 and further to 391.58 billion won in 2023, before a modest rebound to 422.66 billion won in 2024. Last year it declined again.
A Fair Trade Commission official attributed the surge in the number of fines largely to a bid-rigging case involving special-order furniture. "Even though it was a single collusive act, separate case numbers were assigned for each contracting authority, which inflated the count," the official said. "The number of cases rose, but the fines per case were not large, so the total amount actually fell."
By law, fines for violations of the Fair Trade Act accounted for 323.03 billion won across 161 cases, or 94.9 percent of the total. Fines under the Franchise Business Act came to 9.92 billion won across 10 cases, followed by consumer protection laws at 4.23 billion won across 12 cases and the Subcontracting Act at 3.00 billion won across 11 cases.
Within Fair Trade Act violations, fines for unfair collaborative acts — collusion — were the largest at 222.93 billion won across 147 cases, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all fines the commission imposed last year. Fines for unfair trade practices came second at 99.43 billion won across 10 cases.
The upward trend in cartel-related cases was also evident at the intake stage. New filings for unfair collaborative act cases rose 20.7 percent last year to 233 from 193 the year before, the highest since 2017, when 257 were filed. Filings for unfair trade practice cases under the Fair Trade Act also climbed 15.8 percent to 176 from 152.
Meanwhile, a string of sanctions against major cartel cases this year has fueled expectations that the annual fine total could far exceed the all-time record of 1.333 trillion won set in 2017 and potentially surpass 2 trillion won.
y2k@heraldcorp.com
