Fair Trade Commission Chairman: "Korean Air-Asiana M&A, Multi-Faceted Analysis of Consumers and Efficiency"

Jongwook Cho, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission.

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Cho Sung-wook, Chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), said on the 19th regarding the corporate merger review between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, "Generally, when a monopoly occurs, we analyze the anti-competitive effects, resulting consumer harm, and efficiency gains from multiple perspectives."

Chairman Cho appeared on a radio broadcast that day and stated, "(The acquisition of Asiana Airlines by Korean Air) will go through a similar procedure as other corporate merger notifications."

Earlier, on the 16th, the government and the Korea Development Bank formalized Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana Airlines, but for this acquisition to be completed, it must pass the KFTC's corporate merger review.

The market is concerned that if the acquisition is completed, Korean Air will hold more than 60% of the domestic market share, becoming a monopolistic operator.

Chairman Cho said, "When a corporate merger notification is submitted, we decide whether to approve the merger by analyzing, based on principles and laws, whether there is a restriction on competition and whether there is a negative impact on consumer welfare."

Regarding the corporate merger review between Delivery Hero (DH) and Woowa Brothers, he said, "The review report has been delivered to the companies involved, but it has not yet undergone deliberation."

Recently, the KFTC sent a review report to DH, the operator of delivery apps Yogiyo and Baedaltong, stating that "if you want to acquire Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok, you must sell Yogiyo."

Chairman Cho explained, "The review report contains the KFTC Secretariat's judgment on 'what to do if there is a restriction on competition.' Once the review report is submitted, a plenary meeting is held to fully hear the opinions of related parties, and the nine commissioners of the KFTC make a decision through consensus."

Regarding claims that the KFTC's full revision bill of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act submitted to the National Assembly is 'tightening the noose on companies,' Chairman Cho said, "I do not agree at all," adding, "It is about saving companies and will play a role in making corporate governance sound and increasing value."

Regarding the 'Online Platform Fairness Act' proposed by the KFTC, he said, "We judged that it is necessary to newly regulate unfair practices that may occur between platform operators and tenant companies."

On concerns that the Online Platform Fairness Act might hinder innovation by platform companies, Chairman Cho said, "Although fines can be imposed for violations, many criminal penalties have been removed," adding, "We prepared the bill in a way that does not restrict innovation, such as introducing a consent decree system."

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