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March 04, 2008
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| Korea’s anti-trust watchdog said yesterday that it has opened a new department to focus solely on investigating and cracking down on improper behavior by international cartels. The Fair Trade Commission said that it launched the department to cope with the increasing number of cross-border cartels suspected of engaging in price rigging and other improper business activities. The watchdog said that it will also enhance cooperation with foreign countries including the United States and Japan in cracking down on such unfair practices that take place across borders. In the past, the antitrust agency has had staff who monitor cartel activities but this is the first time it has opened a department to deal only with international cartels. “So far, we have faced many challenges in dealing with international cartel cases due to lack of personnel, which frequently forced us to put the cases on the back burner. Sometimes it took several years to investigate a single incident,” a Fair Trade Commission official said. Yonhap |
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