[New Year's Address] Kim Hyung-bae, President of the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency, "Will Complete the Reorganization into the Fair Trade Promotion Agency"

Key Promotion Tasks Include Establishing a Fair Trade Culture and Win-Win Management, Enhancing Dispute Mediation, and Strengthening Research Functions

Kim Hyung-bae, President of the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency. (File photo)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] On the 3rd, Kim Hyung-bae, President of the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency, stated, "We will complete the reorganization into the Fair Trade Promotion Agency, establish an appropriate organizational system, and smoothly carry out new projects accordingly."

In his New Year's address, President Kim identified the completion of the reorganization into the Fair Trade Promotion Agency, establishment of a fair trade culture and win-win management, enhancement of dispute mediation, and strengthening of research functions as the key promotion tasks for this year.

President Kim emphasized, "In preparation for the reorganization of the Promotion Agency, we must establish a mid- to long-term development plan reflecting the opinions of experts and stakeholders from various fields and implement it step by step without any setbacks. We must also ensure thorough preparatory work to avoid any disruptions in new projects such as subcontracting technical data confidentiality consulting, large-scale distribution business law consulting, and online platform dispute mediation."

He continued, "As new tasks targeting large corporations are newly implemented in addition to existing dispute mediation, and various evaluation tasks are expanding, it is becoming increasingly important to raise employees' ethical awareness and prevent misconduct. To this end, we will establish an independent audit organization."

He urged employees to make greater efforts so that the fair trade culture spreads more widely throughout the market and win-win management is firmly established. President Kim explained, "Based on last year's experience, we will stabilize the comprehensive franchise support tasks this year to ensure that prospective franchisees and franchise operators do not suffer damages and that any damages incurred are effectively remedied by tightening the safety net. In addition to existing group and online education, we will newly promote customized consulting projects targeting new and small-to-medium-sized franchise headquarters."

Regarding the enhancement of dispute mediation, he stressed that it is most important to produce mediation results that the parties desire within a short period. He said, "We should introduce a standing committee system with specialized knowledge to activate the small committee system of the dispute mediation council, and introduce an appraisal system in the subcontracting sector, where most disputes involve monetary issues, to propose mediation plans that increase acceptance rates among the parties. For concluded dispute mediation cases, we will check whether the agreed matters have been implemented, and for unresolved cases, we will strengthen follow-up measures such as post-procedure guidance and litigation support connections to provide services that impress our clients."

The Mediation Agency also plans to further strengthen its research functions to advance the system and improve the efficiency of law enforcement. President Kim stated, "We must fully support the Fair Trade Commission's role in promoting competition so that the fair trade culture can spread further within the government sector. Additionally, we need to establish a rapid research execution system to promptly respond to urgent policy research demands from government agencies such as the Fair Trade Commission, and strengthen networks including exchanges and promotional activities with other research institutions to disseminate research outcomes."

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