S. Korea to reveal names of public firms involved in unfair

South Korea will reveal names of public companies found to have been involved in illegal and unfair business practices later this year, the finance minister said Wednesday.

The move is aimed at eradicating deeply rooted practices in the public sector, such as giving business favors to companies that have hired former executives or employees of public firms, and big firms abusing their market dominating power over smaller businesses.

"The government will make a thorough review of such cases until next month," Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said at a meeting with other policymakers in Seoul.

"And we will unveil the list of public enterprises found to have been involved in any unfair business transactions later this year," he said.

The government is trying to reform public companies, which frequently come under fire for their pestering debt problems, excessive benefits to their employees and lax management styles.

Hyun said that the government will continue its push to root out unfair business practices in the public sector in an effort to "establish an economy based on strong fundamentals," one of the main objectives spelled out in its recently announced three-year economic innovation plans.

The government will also go beyond the public sector to look into unfair business practices involving large conglomerates and smaller companies in the private sector, he said.

In a related move, Hyun said that the government will make public the results of its probe later this year into excessive sales commissions that large retailers impose on small vendors. (Yonhap)