The Korea Printing Cooperative Federation, the Democratic Party of Korea's Eulji People's Livelihood Action Committee, and lawmakers Lee Gang-il, Kim Nam-geun, Kim Moon-su and Song Jae-bong hold a National Assembly forum on recovering losses and strengthening competitiveness in the printing industry at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on Friday. Pictured from left in the front row: Rep. Song Jae-bong, Korea Printing Cooperative Federation President Park Jang-seon, Rep. Min Byeong-deok (chair of the Eulji Committee), Rep. Lee Gang-il and Rep. Kim Moon-su. [Korea Federation of SMEs]
The Korea Printing Cooperative Federation, the Democratic Party of Korea's Eulji People's Livelihood Action Committee, and lawmakers Lee Gang-il, Kim Nam-geun, Kim Moon-su and Song Jae-bong hold a National Assembly forum on recovering losses and strengthening competitiveness in the printing industry at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on Friday. Pictured from left in the front row: Rep. Song Jae-bong, Korea Printing Cooperative Federation President Park Jang-seon, Rep. Min Byeong-deok (chair of the Eulji Committee), Rep. Lee Gang-il and Rep. Kim Moon-su. [Korea Federation of SMEs]

Fair Trade Commission fines 6 paper firms 338.3 billion won over nearly 4-year price-fixing scheme

Printing industry: 'We lost two years' worth of operating profit — we need a recovery mechanism'

5,005 printers and family members petition for relief fund, policy financing

A price-fixing cartel among printing paper manufacturers cost the average South Korean printing firm 93.6 million won ($68,800) over roughly four years, according to an analysis presented Friday, with total industry losses estimated at 525.5 billion won. The printing industry called for a dedicated compensation regime for small and medium-sized enterprises harmed by the cartel, separate from the fines already levied against the colluding companies.

The Korea Printing Cooperative Federation, the Democratic Party of Korea's Eulji People's Livelihood Action Committee, and lawmakers Lee Gang-il, Kim Nam-geun, Kim Moon-su and Song Jae-bong convened a National Assembly forum Friday at the National Assembly Members' Office Building to discuss support measures for printing firms affected by the paper price-fixing scheme.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission found in April that six paper manufacturers — Hansol Paper, Moorim P&P, Moorim Paper, Moorim SP, Hankuk Paper MFG and Hongwon Paper — had colluded to fix the selling price of printing paper from February 2021 to December 2024, a period of roughly three years and 10 months.

The companies reached agreements seven times during that period to raise benchmark prices or narrow discount rates, according to the commission's investigation. The commission imposed a combined fine of 338.3 billion won on the six firms and referred two of them to prosecutors.

The forum focused on the question of compensation for printing companies that suffered actual losses following the sanctions.

Hwang Kyeong-jin, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Startups, estimated that applying an overcharge rate of 13.04 percent to actual payments made over the past four years yields an average net loss of 93.6 million won per printing firm.

That figure is equivalent to roughly two years of the average annual operating profit of 51 million won for a printing company. Cumulative losses across the entire printing industry were estimated at around 525.5 billion won.

Printing paper is one of the core cost items for printing firms. The industry argues that because small operators make up a large share of the sector, they cannot pass price increases on to clients, meaning the cartel-driven hikes translated directly into deteriorating profitability and reduced investment.

Seo Chi-won, an attorney at law firm Wongok, said the current Fair Trade Act is better equipped to punish colluding businesses than to help victims recover their losses. Seo proposed introducing a class-action system for cartel victims, easing the burden of proof, strengthening document-disclosure rules, establishing a victim relief fund financed by fines, and linking leniency programs for self-reporters to victim compensation.

The printing industry also put forward four policy priorities for supporting affected firms: creating an unfair-trade victim relief fund and easing the burden of proving damages; stabilizing printing paper prices and fostering a fair-trade environment; upgrading aging printing equipment toward eco-friendly and digital operations while training skilled workers; and expanding policy financing, special guarantees and tax support.

Participants also called for expanding dedicated policy loans and special guarantees for affected firms, alongside financial and tax measures including repayment deferrals, loan maturity extensions and tax credits on existing debt.

Korea Printing Cooperative Federation President Park Jang-seon presented a petition signed by 5,005 printers and their family members nationwide — calling for recovery of cartel-related losses and stronger industry competitiveness — to Min Byeong-deok, chair of the Eulji People's Livelihood Action Committee.

"The long-running printing paper price-fixing cartel has seriously threatened the livelihoods of printing firms," Park said. "We need effective relief mechanisms for affected businesses and a pan-government comprehensive support package to strengthen the competitiveness of the printing industry."


hong@heraldcorp.com