The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 29th that it had uncovered 135 cases of violations of disclosure obligations from corporate groups designated in May, imposing fines of 885.07 million won.
The Fair Trade Commission inspected 3,318 affiliates of 88 corporate groups, 229 public corporations, and related parties to verify compliance with disclosure obligations under the Fair Trade Act. As a result of the inspection, 135 cases of disclosure obligation violations by 118 affiliate companies from 49 corporate groups and related parties were detected.
Specifically, 25 companies violated disclosure obligations for large internal transactions 37 times, resulting in fines of 605 million won. For corporate group status disclosures, 92 companies committed 94 violations, incurring fines of 269 million won. Four companies violated disclosures of important matters for unlisted companies four times, leading to fines of 9 million won.
By corporate group, Hankook & Company Group (formerly Hankook Tire) and Taeyoung had the most violations with 11 each, followed by Wonik with 10, and Hanwha with 9. By the amount of fines, Sinokor Merchant Marine faced the highest with 323 million won, Bando Holdings with 103 million won, and Hankook & Company Group with 64 million won.
The number of disclosure obligation violations decreased from 156 cases in 2020 to 102 last year, but increased to 135 this year. The total amount of fines also decreased from 1.31 billion won in 2020 to 680 million won last year, but rose to 880 million won this year.
A Fair Trade Commission official noted, “In the future, the Fair Trade Commission will strengthen inspections not only for the continuous regular checks to detect simple violations but also for significant disclosure violations such as non-resolution and non-disclosure that undermine the market's self-monitoring function,” adding that they plan to focus on preventive activities using various methods.