Cartel busts surge as Fair Trade Commission posts 10-year high in penalty cases last year

A sharp rise in cartel detections last year pushed the Korea Fair Trade Commission's number of penalty cases to its highest level in a decade, even as the total amount of fines fell due to a drop in large-scale cases.

According to the Fair Trade Commission's "2025 Statistical Yearbook" released Monday, the number of penalty cases last year reached 194, up 56.5 percent from 124 the previous year — the highest figure since 2015, when 202 cases were recorded.

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 penalty cases rose sharply. After hovering between 112 and 128 from 2021 through 2024 — 128 in 2021, 112 in 2022, 118 in 2023 and 124 in 2024 — the figure jumped to 194 last year.

However, the total amount of fines imposed declined 19.5 percent to 340.17 billion won from 422.66 billion won the previous year.

Fine totals have trended downward since surpassing 1 trillion won in 2021, when they reached 1.0084 trillion won. They fell to 822.37 billion won in 2022 and further to 391.58 billion won in 2023, before edging back up to 422.66 billion won in 2024 — only to decline again last year.

A Fair Trade Commission official said the jump in penalty cases last year was largely driven by a bid-rigging case involving furniture sold through special sales channels. "Even though the collusion itself was a single scheme, separate case numbers were assigned for each contracting authority, which inflated the case count," the official said. "The number of cases rose, but the fines per case were not large, so the overall fine total actually fell."

By law, violations of the Fair Trade Act accounted for 322.03 billion won in fines across 161 cases, or 94.9 percent of the total. Franchise Business Act violations followed at 9.92 billion won across 10 cases, consumer protection laws at 4.23 billion won across 12 cases, and the Subcontracting Act at 2.996 billion won across 11 cases.

Within Fair Trade Act violations, fines for illicit concerted action — 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 next at 99.43 billion won across 10 cases. Business association prohibition violations drew 502 million won across three cases, and fines related to curbing economic concentration totaled 166 million won in one case. No fines were imposed for abuse of market-dominant position.

The rise in cartel-related activity was also evident at the case intake stage. New filings for illicit concerted action reached 233 last year, up 20.7 percent from 193 the year before and the highest since 2017, when 257 were filed. Unfair trade practice filings under the Fair Trade Act also rose 15.8 percent to 176 from 152.

Meanwhile, a string of major cartel sanctions this year has fueled expectations that annual fines could far exceed the all-time record of 1.3330 trillion won set in 2017 and potentially surpass 2 trillion won. Large cases processed this year include a flour cartel (671 billion won), a sugar cartel (396 billion won) and a printing paper cartel (338.3 billion won). Fines were also levied in a pork cartel case (3.2 billion won) and an egg cartel case (590 million won).