Korea plans additional FTC offices in capital area

Korea plans additional FTC offices in capital area

최초입력 2025.07.02 09:57:19

(Yonhap)

The South Korean government is looking to strengthen the organizational structure of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) by adding offices near the capital.
According to government sources on Tuesday, the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, which serves as a presidential transition team for the new Lee Jae Myung administration, has internally prepared a reorganization plan that includes either establishing two new regional offices in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province or setting up a new office in the region.
They would be in addition to the antitrust watchdog’s existing five regional offices in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon.
These regional offices are responsible for investigating cases within their jurisdictions and recommending sanctions such as fines.
The five existing offices currently employ a total of 164 people, with around 80 staff members at the Seoul office, which handles cases from both the capital area and Gangwon Province.
As the Seoul office handles about 80 percent of all civil complaints, there have been calls for more than doubling the number of staff members in the Seoul metropolitan area.
According to data from Democratic Party Representative Min Byoung-dug’s office, the Seoul office accounted for 76.8 percent of all civil complaints filed with regional offices as of August 2024.
The figure has steadily increased from 68.4 percent in 2022 and 71.4 percent in 2023.
The Seoul office also had an average case processing period of 270 days as of August 2024 and 252 days in 2023, while the average period across the five regional offices over the past five years (2019–2023) was nearly 180 days, significantly higher than the national average.
The committee is also considering establishing a new Bureau of Economic Analysis and hiring Ph.D.-level researchers.
This idea reflects the assessment that the KFTC’s internal capacity is significantly insufficient compared with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), both of which employ around 70 economic analysts.
The creation of a dedicated Platform Bureau is also under review in line with President Lee’s campaign pledge to ensure fair competition in the digital platform sector.
If new offices in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province and two new bureaus are established, this could mark the largest expansion of the KFTC workforce since the previous Moon Jae-in administration, during which 124 positions were added over five years.
However, the restructuring plan still requires coordination between the KFTC, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The KFTC is currently in discussions with the interior ministry regarding the personnel increase, sources said.
They noted that the upcoming selection of the next KFTC chairperson will likely be a key factor in securing the necessary momentum for implementation.
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Korea plans additional FTC offices in capital area

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