Region: South Korea

Korea’s antitrust watchdog has overhauled its technology task force to more comprehensively pursue competition issues that arise in the digital economy.

27 January 2022

The European Commission has blocked Hyundai Heavy Industries’ $2 billion acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering after the companies failed to offer formal remedies to address its concerns, bringing an end to a Phase II probe that started in 2019.

13 January 2022

Featured in GCR 100 2022

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is focusing its crosshairs on digital concerns, deploying its information and communications technology taskforce – formed in November 2019 – to uncover and punish anticompetitive behaviour in these markets.

10 December 2021

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has fined eight aluminium alloy makers nearly €15.6 million after finding they rigged bids for products ordered by Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia.

08 December 2021

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims has praised Korea for passing amendments to its telecommunications law that prohibits Google and Apple from barring third-party payment providers in their application marketplaces.

02 December 2021

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has fined four mobile payment providers a combined 16.9 billion won (€12.6 million) for colluding to fix the fees they charged vulnerable customers.

17 November 2021

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has fined seven of the country’s leading Samgye chicken producers a collective €18.1 million for agreeing to fix the prices of meat used in traditional ginseng soup.

12 October 2021

News in brief from the Asia-Pacific region… China’s competition watchdog continues to keep its homegrown technology companies over the fire, with Meituan and the broader sharing economy the latest target. Meanwhile, Epic Games and Apple have a trial date in Australia, although everyone will have to wait until late November 2022.

02 September 2021

News in brief from the Asia-Pacific region… Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is nearing the end of a long probe into Google, while it is also looking into the local bar association after a complaint about potential restrictions on its members. In Australia, the competition agency has extended certain protections for banks to collaborate as large parts of the country endure yet another round of intense lockdowns.

12 August 2021

News in brief from the Asia-Pacific region… China cranked up its tech crackdown yet again with another slate of gun-jumping decisions. Meanwhile, reports surfaced this week that Korea’s competition watchdog is investigating Broadcom just as the US-based chipmaker wrapped up a monopolisation lawsuit at home. And a pair of mergers are working their way through lengthy merger probes – one in New Zealand and another in Singapore.

08 July 2021