"30 Billion Won Is Not Enough": Collusion Whistleblowers Can Strike It Rich... Fair Trade Chief Announces Unlimited Rewards

Official Announcement in Special Column of "Fair Companionship" Published by the Mediation Agency
Administrative Notice for Guideline Revision to Be Issued This Month

From now on, reporting covert collusion or unfair practices by large corporations can result in multi-billion won rewards, or even larger sums. This comes as the Fair Trade Commission has decided to significantly revamp its reward system to encourage internal disclosures and public interest reporting.

Joo Byunggi, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the 3rd 2030 Advisory Group held last month at the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency. Fair Trade Commission. Yonhap News Agency.

On May 20, Joo Byunggi, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, stated in a special column titled "Inequality and Economic Policy" published in the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency’s quarterly magazine 'Fair Companionship' (Spring·Summer issue), "We will greatly increase the size of reporting rewards and remove the upper limit." He also said, "We will improve the system so that subcontractors, suppliers, franchise owners, and others who experience damages in the field can also receive rewards." While discussions about expanding reporting rewards have continually surfaced both inside and outside the Fair Trade Commission, this is the first time the chairman has publicly announced the removal of the cap. The Commission plans to announce a proposed revision to the relevant notice within this month and to release detailed criteria and calculation methods for the rewards.

Currently, the Fair Trade Commission operates a reward system for reports on 14 types of unfair trade practices, including collusion and unfair support. Of these, the area with the largest rewards is collusion, where rewards have been capped at 3 billion won. Whistleblowers receive rewards if they submit decisive evidence or significantly contribute to an investigation. However, in practice, there has been considerable dissatisfaction that the compensation is too low compared to the risks involved. Especially with collusion cases, detection is difficult without core evidence such as internal documents, recordings, or emails, yet the reward system has been criticized for being inadequate relative to the legal and workplace disadvantages whistleblowers must bear.

The actual payout of rewards has also fallen short of expectations. According to the office of Lee Yangsu, a member of the People Power Party, the Fair Trade Commission’s reward budget last year was 3.15 billion won, but only about 1.34 billion won—just 42.8% of the total—was actually paid out. Furthermore, until 2024, there has been only one case in recent years where a reward exceeding 500 million won was granted.

The Fair Trade Commission aims to use this system overhaul to more proactively expose secret collusion and power abuse. Especially as suspicions of collusion between large corporations and industry players have recently surfaced in markets such as raw materials, distribution, and platforms, the Commission intends to utilize internal reporting as a key investigative tool. In the past, it was difficult for anyone other than internal employees of large corporations to make a report. However, if a franchise owner suffering from headquarters’ abuse or a supplier facing undercut pricing submits decisive evidence to the Fair Trade Commission, they can now expect a "record-high reward" that more than compensates for the hardship they have endured.

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