April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s trade mediation agency solved nearly 95 billion won (US$89 million) worth of unfair contracts through arbitrations last year, the antitrust watchdog said on Jan. 23.

The Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency -- a body under the Fair Trade Commission -- mediated 3,035 cases of unfair trading, subcontract work, franchise operation and retail business in 2017, up 36 percent from a year earlier, according to the FTC.

The agency was founded in 2007 to refer corporate disputes involving small and midsized firms to arbitration and seek swift resolutions.

It aims to tackle the massive concentration of market control in large conglomerates, which are sometimes blamed for wielding excessive power over smaller competitors and subcontractors.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)