Gov't, ruling party vow harsher sanctions on companies over collusive practices

The government and the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) reached an agreement on Monday to introduce stricter penalties for companies that repeatedly engage in collusive practices. Min Byoung-dug, the deputy chair of the party's policy committee, informed reporters of the plan during a DPK-government policy consultation meeting. The ruling party and government aim to revise the Fair Trade Act and 17 specific sector laws to implement this new system in 17 industries, including safety, energy, and transportation.

Min explained that the government will extend the statute of limitations for sanctions against collusive practices and will integrate information on large-scale public tenders commissioned by education offices with the Fair Trade Commission's Bid-Rigging Indicator Analysis System. Furthermore, they plan to strictly enforce existing laws that permit the imposition of punitive fines for repeated collusion.