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Korea’s Watchdog Prepares Roadmap To Improve Online Markets Competition

By  |  October 24, 2022

South Korea’s antitrust body is set to strengthen reviews on acquisitions for different businesses in the platform industry to resolve the problems of monopoly in the sector as the recent nationwide service disruptions of an online giant Kakao raised concerns over its aggressive expansion.

The Fair Trade Commission will also prepare guidelines to consider factors on the specificity of the platform businesses such as the number of users and traffic when reviewing service operators’ abuse of monopoly power.

KFTC Chairperson Han Ki-Jeong said on Friday that he has reported to President Yoon Suk-yeol on the previous day on measures to promote competition in “the monopolized online platform market.”

Related: South Korea Names New Competition Head

“Risks were not properly managed in a monopoly with low competition pressure,” Han told lawmakers. “The monopolization of online platforms indirectly affected the Kakao crisis.”