Fair Trade Commission Refers Hyundai Steel and 3 Others to Prosecution for Colluding on Scrap Steel Purchases

Three SeAH Besteel Employees Also Accused of Obstruction of Investigation

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 17th that it has decided to file charges with the prosecution against four companies?Hyundai Steel, Yamato Korea Holdings, Korea Steel, and Daehan Steel?and three employees of SeAH Besteel for collusion in the purchase of steel scrap by steelmakers.

The Fair Trade Commission also decided to file charges with the prosecution against SeAH Besteel as a corporation and three of its employees for obstructing the investigation by destroying, hiding, and deleting electronic data during the on-site investigation. This is the first case of action taken since the revision of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act in April 2017, which imposes penalties for acts of obstructing investigations.

Additionally, during the investigation of the steel scrap purchase collusion case, three current and former executives of Hyundai Steel who failed to comply with the Fair Trade Commission's summons without justifiable reasons were each fined 2 million won, totaling 6 million won in fines.

Previously, the Fair Trade Commission imposed corrective orders and a total fine of 300.083 billion won on seven steelmakers involved in the steel scrap purchase collusion.

A Fair Trade Commission official stated, "We plan to continue to respond strictly to collusion that undermines market competition order," adding, "especially in cases of obstruction and refusal during investigations, we will impose strong sanctions based on a zero-tolerance policy and actively guide businesses to prevent legal violations."

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