40 biz groups fined for failure to adhere to public filing requirement

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it has imposed a combined fine of 912 million won ($769,500) on 107 affiliates of 40 conglomerates for their failure to properly make public filings on major business information.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it has looked into whether 2,612 affiliates of 71 large business groups subject to public filing obligations have fully made public disclosures of key details about business operations.

Large business groups with assets of 5 trillion won or more are required to publicly file details on inter-affiliate transactions, their ownership structure and key information on non-affiliates.

The amount of the fine was smaller than last year's 1.3 billion won imposed on 108 affiliates of 37 large business groups, according to the regulator.

The FTC said 46 large business groups earned 1.35 billion won by selling brand licenses to their affiliates.

The 2021 tally marked a 5 percent fall from the previous year's 1.42 billion won.

It marked the first decline since 2018, when the country introduced public filings on brand license fees.

The regulator said the fall was mainly attributable to pandemic-caused business difficulties and a decline in brand license fees by some firms.

LG and SK topped the list by charging their affiliates 277.8 billion won and 237.5 billion won, respectively. (Yonhap)