Korea's revived antitrust investigative unit launches first probe into food price-fixing allegations

The Korea Fair Trade Commission's newly established Special Investigation Planning Unit has launched its first case — a probe into allegations that major food companies colluded to fix processed food prices.

The unit dispatched investigators to Daesang, Ottogi and CJ CheilJedang on Wednesday, conducting on-site inspections at the companies' offices, according to industry sources.

The Fair Trade Commission is examining whether the companies coordinated prices in advance on a range of food products over the past several years, including kimchi, tofu, cooking oils and other edible fats, instant rice, fermented sauces and gift sets.

The Special Investigation Planning Unit officially launched earlier this month, reviving the functions of the commission's investigation bureau, which was dissolved in 2005. The bureau had earned the nickname "the grim reaper of the business world" for its aggressive corporate probes.

The unit's decision to take on food industry price-fixing allegations as its first case signals that the commission intends to focus squarely on unfair trade practices with a direct impact on people's daily lives.

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Ju Byung-ki said on Sept. 21, in remarks on the unit's operational direction, that the commission would "actively deploy its investigative capabilities to swiftly and intensively examine unfair practices in areas closely tied to people's everyday lives."