Seoul, Oct 19 Coupang, a leading e-commerce company in South Korea, has received the largest amount of fines from the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) among conglomerates over the past three years, a parliamentary report showed on Sunday.
According to the report compiled by the FTC and submitted to Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party, Coupang was fined a total of 162.8 billion won (US$114.3 million) from the first half of 2022 to the first half of this year, reports Yonhap news agency.
Last year, the FTC imposed the fine on the company for manipulating search algorithms to boost the "Coupang ranking" of its private-label and directly purchased products.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor Group followed with cumulative fines of 119.4 billion won, trailed by poultry-processing company Harim Group with 101.6 billion won and SK Group with 64.5 billion won.
The top 10 conglomerates were fined a combined 744.6 billion won during the three-year period.
Hyundai Department Store Group recorded the highest number of violations, 38 in total, mostly due to multiple collusion cases involving its furniture affiliate Hyundai Livart Furniture.
Hanssem Co. came next with 33 violations, followed by SK Group with 31 and Enex Co. with 28.
Altogether, the top 10 companies violated antitrust law 243 times over the cited period.
Meanwhile, the antitrust watchdog said last week it will soon begin the process of imposing sanctions on two major food delivery platforms over alleged unfair market practices, after the companies failed to voluntarily submit adequate corrective measures.
The move comes after Woowa Brothers Corp., the operator of Baedal Minjok also known as Baemin, and Coupang Eats have not presented sufficient co-prosperity or corrective plans for more than six months regarding various unfair contract clauses amid the investigation, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
"The investigations into violations such as forcing bundle sales are nearly complete," said Kim Moon-sik, a senior official at the FTC, adding that it plans to refer the case to the full commission meeting soon.
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