On Sept. 13, 2013, the head of the South Korean antitrust regulator (the Korea Fair Trade Commission) announced a strengthening of the penalties for unfair business activities. This announcement comes following accusations of excessive leniency being granted by the KFTC when imposing a reduced penalty of $8,300 on a brewery found to have engaged in abusive behavior.
The KFTC stated that the original fine imposed on Baesangmyun Brewery, which had forced wholesalers to purchase more products than they required in order to reduce its unsold inventory, was reduced because the company had reported recent consecutive annual losses and had shown a high degree of cooperation with authorities during the course of the investigation.
The KFTC explained that the current rules on penalties will be revised by the end of the year, with enforcement to start in 2014.
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