Ju Biung-ghi, chairperson of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, said on the 12th, "When we penalized the school uniform price-fixing case, we imposed a penalty surcharge of 10 million won, which matched the level of unjust gains, but the sanction level needs to be raised so that collusion cases do not recur."
The chairperson said at the Cabinet meeting held that day, "The penalty surcharge should significantly exceed the unjust gains," and stated accordingly.
In response, President Lee Jae-myung said, "If we (sanction) what has always been routinely done, there is a chance people will say it will ruin things, so we should give ample warning, and starting next year, if actual collusion occurs, we should (sanction) as firmly as we do with corporations so they can never even think of collusion again."
That day, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also released a "plan for actions on school uniform bid collusion." In Mar., the FTC imposed a penalty surcharge of 321 million won on 27 school uniform companies in Gwangju that colluded on school uniform prices. That is about 10 million won per company. The FTC is also investigating four school uniform manufacturers—Elite, Smart, Ivy Club, and Skoolooks—and 54 school uniform dealerships, and if legal violations are identified, it plans to take action in Jul.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will strengthen continuous monitoring to prevent collusion in advance. It will expand the intensive reporting period for school uniform collusion from the start of the school year to year-round. Through the bid-collusion indication analysis system, it will monitor unfair concerted acts in real time. As soon as suspicious cases are identified, it plans to launch on-site investigations. In Jul., it will hold a meeting with school uniform businesses and ask manufacturers and dealerships to comply with the law.