The Korea Fair Trade Commission said on the 3rd that it decided to issue a corrective order and impose a 256 million won penalty surcharge on the Jeju Liquor Distributors Association (Jeju Liquor Association) for violating the Fair Trade Act by agreeing to keep retail prices for soju and beer at a certain level. All 22 companies in Jeju that hold the "general liquor distributor" qualification, which allows them to supply alcohol to retailers such as marts and restaurants, are members of the association.
That day, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the Jeju Liquor Association engaged from March 2018 to recently in unfair restrictions on competition and price fixing and maintenance, which are among the prohibited acts of business associations specified in Article 51, Paragraph 1 of the Fair Trade Act.
According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC), in March 2018 the Jeju Liquor Association added to its internal enforcement rules a provision stating that "competition to attract clients among member companies is limited to new businesses, and existing secured clients are not to be encroached upon."
The enforcement rules also added a provision to keep liquor prices sold to retailers at a certain level and to ban dumping sales. Here, the certain level meant the shipment price plus a margin of 27.5%–30%. If a liquor wholesaler provides lending support to a retailer, the price was conveyed to be about 10% lower than that.