The Board of Audit and Inspection said on the 25th that Oh Gyu-seong, a former Commissioner of the Korea Fair Trade Commission who previously worked at Kim & Chang, took part in a resolution to reduce a penalty surcharge while reviewing a bid-rigging case in 2024 that involved corporations represented by Kim & Chang. Oh, a former judge, was appointed a nonstanding Commissioner with a three-year term in June 2024 but abruptly resigned earlier this month.
A nonstanding Commissioner of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is one of the nine members of the "full commission meeting," which is equivalent to a first-instance court for fair trade cases. Under the Public Service Ethics Act and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, when a nonstanding Commissioner of the FTC is to review a case related to a company where the Commissioner worked up to two years before appointment, the Commissioner must file a prior recusal request. The Board of Audit and Inspection noted that Oh did not fulfill this obligation.
The Board of Audit and Inspection announced "results of the regular audit of the FTC" that day. The audit covered the FTC's work from 2022 to 2025 and was conducted from June 25 to July 15 last year. It was the first regular institutional audit of the FTC by the Board of Audit and Inspection in about four years since May 2021.
The Board of Audit and Inspection notified Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi that Oh violated the Public Service Ethics Act and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act. Oh, a former judge, served as director of adjudication management at the FTC from 2020 to 2022. The adjudication management director oversees lawsuits by corporations against FTC dispositions. Oh then worked as a Kim & Chang attorney from 2022 to 2023 and was appointed a nonstanding Commissioner of the FTC in June 2024. Nonstanding Commissioners are appointed by the president upon recommendation by the FTC chairperson.
According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, Oh, as a nonstanding Commissioner in June 2024, joined a full commission meeting on a bid-rigging case represented by Kim & Chang and was found to have voted to reduce a penalty surcharge from 4.422 billion won to 3.923 billion won. The Conflict of Interest Prevention Act requires a public official to report in advance and seek recusal when handling duties related to a company where the official worked up to two years before appointment. Oh did not file a recusal request, it said. Oh said, "It was by no means the case that I knew there was a reporting obligation and omitted it."
◇ After leaving the FTC, advised at Kim & Chang on a case the FTC referred to prosecutors
It also emerged that before becoming a nonstanding Commissioner, Oh violated the Public Service Ethics Act while working as a Kim & Chang attorney. From Oct. 2022 to Feb. 2023, Oh advised on a criminal trial involving A corporations' alleged bid-rigging case. But the A corporations case was one that the FTC reported to prosecutors in Aug. 2020 at the prosecution's request.
Under the Public Service Ethics Act, a public official may not handle, for two years after leaving office, cases related to duties handled during the two years before leaving office. Violations are subject to fines of up to 50 million won. A public official must also prepare an annual work report for two years after leaving office and submit it to the head of the affiliated agency. The agency head must check whether the work includes any violations of the Public Service Ethics Act and submit it to the Public Service Ethics Committee with an opinion.
The Board of Audit and Inspection said, "In April 2023, the FTC submitted to the Public Service Ethics Committee an opinion that Oh's post-retirement work history was unrelated to the FTC." This means the FTC also failed to properly oversee whether the retired official complied with the Public Service Ethics Act.
The FTC said it plans to notify the Ministry of Personnel Management and the Public Service Ethics Committee, respectively, of Oh's violations of the law, adding that the two bodies appear likely to impose dispositions such as fines under the law.