Exclusive: South Korea revives its corporate watchdog after 21 years, targeting major cases such as Coupang

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission plans to revive a powerful investigative function abolished 21 years ago, and Chairman Joo Byung-kee says Coupang could become one of its first major targets.

The commission will establish a roughly 40-person Major Investigation Planning Group in October. The move would effectively restore the Investigation Bureau, which was abolished in 2005. Joo said the new unit would handle “complex and significant cases for the national economy,” citing the Coupang case as an example.

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The Large Retail Business Act has served as the last line of defense for the legal interests of small businesses and self-employed people, but Coupang used legal technicalities to try to bring it down.

Joo sharply criticized Coupang’s refusal to cooperate with an on-site investigation into alleged violations of the Large Retail Business Act. “The Large Retail Business Act has served as the last line of defense for the legal interests of small businesses and self-employed people, but Coupang used legal technicalities to try to bring it down,” he said. He also said the refusal “undermines the foundations of our legal order” and called on large law firms not to assist such conduct.

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The refusal undermines the foundations of our legal order.

The commission began its on-site investigation on Aug. 19, but withdrew on Aug. 24 after Coupang argued that it had not received advance notice required under the Basic Act on Administrative Investigations. Coupang then filed a lawsuit seeking cancellation of the investigation and requested a suspension of enforcement. A court temporarily suspended the effect of the commission’s decision until Sept. 23 while it reviews that request. Joo warned that the delay could allow emails and other evidence to be destroyed, undermining enforcement.

Joo said the commission would amend the law to close a gap created because the Large Retail Business Act was enacted after the Basic Act on Administrative Investigations and is not explicitly listed among laws exempt from advance-notice requirements. He also backed an Online Platform Fairness Act and limits on delivery-app commissions and advertising fees. Cases involving government-bond dealers, delivery apps’ alleged most-favored-treatment demands, and the proposed merger of Naver Financial and Dunamu are among the matters the commission expects to decide this year.

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We will assign complex and significant cases for the national economy to the Major Investigation Planning Group.