The Gwangju school uniform collusion case will come before the Korea Fair Trade Commission early next month.
According to industry sources on the 26th, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) decided to deliberate alleged violations of the Fair Trade Act by school uniform businesses in Gwangju at a subcommittee meeting on the 6th of next month.
About 30 people, including operators of major school uniform brand dealerships and independent school uniform shop owners, are suspected of colluding by preselecting the winning bidders in bids for middle and high school uniform purchases in Gwangju in 2023.
President Lee Jae-myung said at a senior secretaries' meeting on the 12th that "with the new semester approaching, please take a look at whether school uniform prices are appropriate." The upcoming subcommittee meeting will be the first deliberation on school uniform collusion since then.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Secretariat has reportedly reached a tentative conclusion to impose a penalty surcharge and corrective orders over the businesses' alleged school uniform collusion. In this regard, Korea Fair Trade Commission Chair Ju Biung-ghi attended the "2nd Task Force (TF) Meeting on Special Management of People's Livelihood Prices" the same day and said, "Through the deliberation of the bid-rigging case involving 27 companies across 136 schools in Gwangju, we will strictly sanction violations of the law."
Meanwhile, three years ago the court fined 29 of the 31 defendants indicted in connection with the case between 3 million and 12 million won.