Naver: "Simple Data Omission in a Situation with No Possibility of Corporate Group Designation"

Fair Trade Commission Accusation Measures: "Plan to Provide Detailed Explanation During Prosecutor Investigation"

Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Officer (GIO)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Regarding the Fair Trade Commission's accusation of Lee Hae-jin, Naver's Global Investment Officer (GIO), for omission of affiliate data and subsequent referral to the prosecution, Naver explained that "it was a simple omission without intent in a situation where there was no possibility of being designated as a publicly disclosed business group."

Naver stated on the 16th, "At the time in 2015, during the preliminary investigation stage when there was absolutely no possibility of being designated as a publicly disclosed business group, the submission of data was conducted in a simplified manner, which caused the issue, but there was no intentional omission of data."

They also claimed, "Although some affiliate data was omitted, even if the omitted data were included, there was no possibility of designation as a business group, and sufficient data necessary for the Fair Trade Commission's review was submitted, so it needs to be examined legally. Furthermore, there has never been a case of prosecution referral for omission of reports that do not affect business group designation, so we feel deeply regretful," adding, "We plan to provide detailed explanations during the prosecution investigation."

Additionally, they explained, "At that time, Naver's total assets were in the early 30 trillion won range, far below 50 trillion won, so there was no possibility of business group designation. The staff preparing the data did not check whether there were any personal companies or affiliated family companies, as in the previous year (2014), during the preliminary investigation stage, which led to the omission of data."

They expressed their frustration, saying, "Even if the omitted companies were included, the 30 trillion won scale would not exceed 50 trillion won, and if it had been a borderline case near the 50 trillion won threshold, the staff would have thoroughly checked everything."

When submitting data in 2015, Naver's total assets were 5.6 trillion won, but immediately after submission, NHN Entertainment separated from the affiliate group, reducing total assets to 3.4 trillion won. The Fair Trade Commission verifies data in a simplified manner if total corporate assets are below 3.5 trillion won, and if assets are between 3.5 trillion and 5 trillion won, it requires additional data including affiliated family and executive-owned companies, similar to companies with assets exceeding 5 trillion won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.