Who was sanctioned, and for what?

According to the sanctions disclosure of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS, Korea's financial supervisor), the online lending platform PFC Technologies transferred the resident registration numbers of 8,497 customers to a third party without their consent on 28 September 2022 in order to calculate the error rate of a new service for mortgage customers, and received credit information on the same customers from that third party, likewise without consent (such as the address and official value of their properties); in addition, when the inspection began it had not implemented password rules against easily guessed numbers. The sanction of 17 September 2026 comprises an institutional warning, an administrative fine (과태료) of KRW 24 million and a penalty surcharge (과징금) of KRW 49 million, KRW 73 million in total.

Authority / court

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)

Area of law

Data protection

Legal basis

Art. 19, 32 und 34 Credit Information Use and Protection Act; Art. 16, 28 und 29 Durchführungsverordnung

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not set out here.

Published

17 Sep 2026

Original amount 73,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

According to the KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition authority), six manufacturers and distributors of printing paper fixed in advance the winning bidder, cover bidders and bid prices in six tenders issued by the publisher Nongmin News Corp. between June 2021 and November 2024; the average winning bid rate was around 96.2%, compared with 87.6% in 2018 to 2020. The KFTC issued corrective orders, imposed fines totalling KRW 3,009 million (Moorim SP KRW 59 million, Moorim Paper KRW 573 million, Moorim P&P KRW 948 million, Hansol Paper KRW 556 million, Hankuk Paper KRW 515 million, Hongwon Paper KRW 358 million).

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Art. 40 Abs. 1 Nr. 8 MRFTA (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Manufacturing and mechanical engineering

Published

9 Sep 2026

Original amount 3,009,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 9 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

From 26 August 2020 to 15 May 2022, Coupang advertised a 'WOW Member Price' below the regular selling price in its online shop without disclosing that it included a coupon redeemable only once by new members of its paid WOW subscription. The KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition and consumer authority) treated the omission of this information as deceptive advertising, issued a corrective order and imposed a fine of KRW 500 million, the statutory maximum fixed-amount fine.

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Art. 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising (täuschende Werbung)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Published

9 Jun 2026

Original amount 500,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 9 Jun 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

According to the KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition authority), seven flour manufacturers with a combined 87.7% of the B2B market coordinated, on 24 occasions between November 2019 and October 2025, the timing and extent of price changes as well as supply volumes and supply rankings towards large buyers such as noodle and confectionery manufacturers, including while receiving government price stabilisation subsidies. In addition to a cease-and-desist order, the KFTC ordered an independent re-determination of prices and imposed fines totalling KRW 671,045 million, the highest amount in any cartel case to date: Sajo DongAOne KRW 183,097 million, Daehan Flour Mills KRW 179,273 million, CJ CheilJedang KRW 131,701 million, Samyang KRW 94,787 million, Daesun Flour Mills KRW 38,448 million, Hantop KRW 24,291 million, Samhwa Flour Mills KRW 19,448 million.

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Art. 40 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 und Nr. 3 MRFTA (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Food and agriculture

Repeat case

yes

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not set out here.

Published

20 May 2026

Original amount 671,045,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 20 May 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The KoFIU (Korea Financial Intelligence Unit) found that the crypto exchange Bithumb had processed 45,772 transfers of crypto assets with 18 virtual asset service providers that had not complied with their reporting obligation between August 2022 and April 2025, and had breached customer identification duties and the associated transaction restrictions in large numbers; there were also shortcomings in suspicious transaction reporting, record keeping and the risk assessment of new products. On 17 March 2026 it ordered a six-month partial suspension of business (no transfers of crypto assets for new customers from 27 March to 26 September 2026) and imposed a fine of KRW 36,873.5 million. The amount and the facts have not been confirmed against the primary source.

Authority / court

Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU)

Area of law

Money laundering and terrorist financing · Customer due diligence

Legal basis

Art. 4, 5, 5-2, 5-4 und 8 Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information; Art. 9, 10-6, 10-9 und 10-20 Durchführungsverordnung (Teilsperre wegen Art. 8 i. V. m. Art. 10-20 DVO: Geschäfte mit nicht gemeldeten Anbietern)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not set out here.

Published

17 Mar 2026

Original amount 36,873,500,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Mar 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

According to the KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition authority), the four banks exchanged their complete loan-to-value (LTV) ratios for mortgage lending over a long period, between 736 and 7,500 individual values per bank, and adjusted their own ratios accordingly; only conduct from December 2021, when the express prohibition of anti-competitive information exchange entered into force, was pursued. The KFTC issued cease-and-desist orders and fines totalling KRW 272,014 million (Kookmin KRW 69,747 million, Shinhan KRW 63,801 million, Woori KRW 51,535 million, Hana KRW 86,931 million), the first application of that provision.

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Art. 40 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 MRFTA i. V. m. Art. 44 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 Durchführungsverordnung (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Published

21 Jan 2026

Original amount 272,014,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 21 Jan 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The KoFIU (Korea Financial Intelligence Unit) found that Dunamu, operator of the crypto exchange Upbit, had failed to identify customers with due care in 5,324,165 cases between October 2021 and October 2024, for instance where identity documents could not be verified, were mere copies or photos, or where addresses were blank or implausible, and had nevertheless allowed transactions in 3,331,570 of these cases. In addition, it failed to file suspicious transaction reports on 15 customers linked to warrant applications by investigative authorities, and its monitoring system did not detect unusual patterns such as large crypto deposits followed by sale and withdrawal; KoFIU imposed a fine of KRW 35,215.6 million on 9 December 2025. The amount and the facts have not been confirmed against the primary source.

Authority / court

Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU)

Area of law

Money laundering and terrorist financing · Customer due diligence

Legal basis

Art. 4, 5, 5-2 und 8 Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information; Art. 9, 10-4, 10-6 und 10-20 Durchführungsverordnung

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Published

9 Dec 2025

Original amount 35,215,600,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 9 Dec 2025.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The two leading accommodation booking platforms sold small and medium-sized lodging businesses advertising packages whose price included discount coupons for guests, and let unused coupons expire without compensation (Yanolja at the end of the contract period, Yeogi Eottae through a validity of only one day). The KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition authority) treated this as an abuse of a superior bargaining position, issued corrective and notification orders and imposed fines totalling KRW 1,540 million: KRW 540 million on Nol Universe (Yanolja) and KRW 1,000 million, the statutory maximum fixed-amount fine, on Yeogi Eottae.

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Abuse of market power

Legal basis

Art. 45 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 MRFTA i. V. m. Art. 52 und Anhang 2 Nr. 6 lit. d Durchführungsverordnung (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Media and online platforms

Published

12 Aug 2025

Original amount 1,540,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 12 Aug 2025.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition and consumer authority) found that Musinsa, Shinsung Tongsang, E-Land World and ITX Korea (operator of ZARA in Korea) had advertised leather products, including those made of synthetic materials, with blanket environmental terms such as 'eco' without sufficient evidence, and treated this as false, exaggerated and misleading advertising under the Labeling and Advertising Act. Because all four admitted the violations and corrected them voluntarily, it limited itself to warnings, issued between 2 April and 8 May 2025 (Shinsung Tongsang 2 April, Musinsa 10 April, E-Land World and ITX Korea 8 May); according to the KFTC it was the first sanctioned greenwashing case in the fashion sector.

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Misleading environmental and sustainability claims

Legal basis

Art. 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising (Labeling and Advertising Act; falsche oder übertriebene Werbung)

Action

Reprimand or warning

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Mitigating circumstances

All four companies admitted the violations and corrected them voluntarily; the KFTC therefore limited itself to warnings.

Published

15 May 2025

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

According to the KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition authority), the three mobile network operators agreed in November 2015 to balance net gains and losses of new subscribers porting their numbers so that they would not concentrate on one operator, and implemented this until the end of September 2022 by coordinating their sales incentives for dealers with one another; they exchanged the information in a joint market monitoring group with the industry association KAIT. The KFTC issued cease-and-desist orders and provisionally set fines totalling KRW 114,026 million (SK Telecom KRW 42,662 million, KT KRW 33,029 million, LG Uplus KRW 38,334 million).

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Art. 40 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 MRFTA (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Published

12 Mar 2025

Original amount 114,026,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 12 Mar 2025.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

According to the KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea's competition authority), Kakao Mobility, dominant in app-based general taxi hailing with a 96% share (2022), required four competing franchise taxi operators (UT, TADA, Banban, Macaron Taxi) to sign partnership agreements granting real-time access to business-sensitive data and otherwise excluded their drivers from general hailing via Kakao T. Following its plenary deliberation on 25 September 2024, the KFTC ordered remedies and announced a provisional fine of KRW 72.4 billion; after the Securities and Futures Commission had determined that revenue must be recognised on a net basis, it announced on 17 December 2024 that the fine had been finally set at KRW 15.1 billion.

Authority / court

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Abuse of market power

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 und Art. 45 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 MRFTA (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Transport, logistics and shipping

Published

17 Dec 2024

Original amount 15,100,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Dec 2024.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance showed users of its online car insurance premium calculator who had declined consent to product marketing a further pop-up, swapped the effect of its buttons in July 2022 and mentioned neither the processing of data nor the mandatory information in it; the consents obtained in this way were invalid, and other insurers copied the pattern. The authority imposed a penalty surcharge of 6,198,000,000 KRW and ordered lawful consent, deletion of data from abandoned premium calculations and stronger internal controls with independent powers for the chief privacy officer. In the same session eleven further direct insurers were sanctioned, including AXA General Insurance (2,715,000,000 KRW) and Hana Insurance (273,000,000 KRW). The amount and the facts have not been confirmed against the primary source.

Authority / court

Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC, 개인정보보호위원회)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Personal Information Protection Act (개인정보 보호법, frühere Fassung) Art. 39-3(1), Art. 31(2), Art. 21(1); Sanktion nach Art. 39-15(1) Nr. 6 a. F.

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Repeat case

no

Mitigating circumstances

Reduction of 50% because no penalty had been imposed in the preceding three years, a further 30% for reasons including cooperation with the investigation and finally 40% following the Commission’s deliberations; increase of 25% because the infringement lasted from July 2022 to September 2023.

Liability of senior managers

Marketing and direct sales were able to design the consent flow without any involvement of the chief privacy officer (CPO); the authority found a breach of former Art. 31(2) and ordered that the CPO be given independent powers.

Published

12 Dec 2024

Original amount 6,198,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 11 Dec 2024.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

After a login outage of around 75 minutes on Instagram on 22 March 2024 that affected some 3.35 million users in Korea, Meta Platforms reported the incident only 24 hours and 19 minutes after it began, despite three requests from the Ministry. A report within 10 minutes and a written report within two hours are required; the Ministry imposed an administrative fine of 5,000,000 KRW under the Framework Act on Broadcasting and Communications Development (방송통신발전 기본법). The amount and the facts have not been confirmed against the primary source.

Authority / court

Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT, 과학기술정보통신부)

Area of law

Information security and cyber · Incident reporting obligations

Legal basis

Framework Act on Broadcasting and Communications Development (방송통신발전 기본법) Art. 38; Basisplan zum Management von Kommunikationsstörungen 2024

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Media and online platforms

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

28 Nov 2024

Original amount 5,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 28 Nov 2024.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Through Facebook profiles and usage behaviour, Meta Platforms, Inc. collected sensitive characteristics of around 980,000 users in Korea – such as religion, political views or same-sex marriage – and made advertising topics built on them available to around 4,000 advertisers without obtaining separate consent. Meta also refused access requests without a legitimate reason and left an unused account-recovery page online through which passwords were reset with forged ID documents and data on ten users was obtained. The authority imposed a penalty surcharge of 21,613,000,000 KRW and an administrative fine of 10,200,000 KRW (21,623,200,000 KRW in total) together with corrective orders.

Authority / court

Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC, 개인정보보호위원회)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Personal Information Protection Act (개인정보 보호법, frühere Fassung) Art. 23(1), Art. 29, Art. 35(3)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Media and online platforms

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

5 Nov 2024

Original amount 21,623,200,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 4 Nov 2024.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link