SEJONG, Oct. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday accused Naver Corp., the nation’s biggest search engine, of manipulating search algorithms in favor of the company’s online shopping site and imposed a 26.7 billion-won (US$22.9 million) fine. The fine, announced by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), is the nation’s first that [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will impose a fine on people who fail to wear face masks in public spaces and on transportation starting Nov. 13 to better combat the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Sunday. The general public will be required to wear masks on public transportation and at demonstrations as well [...]
SEOUL, July 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s largest shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., was fined 970 million won (US$805,000) for unfair trade with its subcontractors, the country’s antitrust watchdog said Sunday. The fine levied on Hyundai Heavy is the biggest-ever for acts of misusing technologies from other companies. Hyundai Heavy has stolen technologies used [...]
SEOUL, July 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s telecommunications regulator said Wednesday it imposed a record fine of 51.2 billion won (US$46.7 million) on the country’s three major carriers — SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. — for providing illegal subsidies to subscribers to their 5G network services. SK Telecom will face [...]
SEOUL, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Health and Welfare has a bit of welcome news for smokers who are caught smoking in non-smoking areas and face the risk of paying a huge fine. Starting from Thursday, smokers will see their fines reduced by 50 percent if they attend anti-smoking education classes. In [...]
SEOUL, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday fined food delivery app Yogiyo 468 million won (US$381,947) for exploiting its dominant position in the local market. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also ordered Yogiyo to take some corrective measures, saying that the company unilaterally introduced a scheme to prevent its contracted [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — A Seoul court ruled in favor of South Korea’s antitrust regulator Wednesday, saying that the watchdog’s 2016 decision to impose a record fine on U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. for unfair business practices was justifiable. The ruling will be a setback for Qualcomm, which challenged the Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Merely lighting up a cigarette in a non-smoking area can be punished by a fine of up to 100,000 won (US$88). In addition, privacy cannot serve as reasonable grounds to oppose being photographed when caught smoking in a non-smoking area. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, in new guidelines [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it has fined Nissan Korea 900 million won (US$804,000) for inflating gas mileage figures for its Infiniti Q50 2.2d sedans. The Japanese car’s fuel efficiency reaches 14.6 kilometers per liter, but the local unit of the Japanese carmaker overstated the fuel efficiency [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Tuesday that it has fined Toyota Motor Korea Co. 817 million won (US$729,000) for deceptive advertising of its RAV4 sport utility vehicle. Toyota Motor Korea advertised that its RAV4 obtained a top safety pick in five test categories, including the driver’s side small overlap [...]