Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
FTC to suspend push to regulate US platform firms amid trade risk
Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman nominee Ju Biung-ghi speaks to reporters at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, Thursday, where he has set up a temporary office to prepare for his parliamentary confirmation hearing. Courtesy of FTC
By Lee Min-hyung
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will temporarily suspend its push to regulate monopolistic platform firms from the United States amid Korea’s unsettled trade negotiation with the world’s largest economy, its chairman nominee said Thursday.
“The antitrust authority cannot independently proceed with the so-called Online Platform Act at a time when the U.S., which has the most influential hegemonic power, makes unprecedentedly strong trade demands to Korea,” Ju Biung-ghi told reporters.
The FTC chairman nominee said the commission will devise the best possible measures once the two countries conclude their detailed trade negotiations.
The Online Platform Act is a regulation targeting market-dominant online platform firms here and abroad. The enactment of the regulation was one of President Lee Jae Myung’s major election pledges.
However, the drive hit a snag when Lee took office in June, as uncertainties surrounding Korea-U.S. trade negotiations showed no signs of abating. Korea has since maintained a low profile in the push for the act, fearing that the country’s key industries, such as automobiles and steel, will fall victim to mounting U.S. trade pressure.
Ju said the FTC will try its utmost to build a fair market order by utilizing its administrative power, even though the move to enact the regualtion has been suspended for the time being.
“All the problems cannot be resolved through legislation alone,” he said. “Under the current legal system, the FTC will make the most of its executive authority to block any high-handed business practices by platform business operators.”
Last month, Korea and the U.S. clinched a long-delayed tariff agreement under which Korean products will face a 15 percent blanket tariff on exports to the U.S. However, details over when exactly the rule will be applied have yet to be confirmed.
With President Lee set to hold his first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on Aug. 25, the FTC is widely expected to tone down its once-aggressive rhetoric against U.S. tech and platform firms for the next few months.
His remarks came a day after President Lee nominated him to be the next head for the nation’s top antitrust authority. Ju, who served as a professor of economics at Seoul National University, is considered one of the nation’s most experienced experts in the study of income distribution.
For the local economy, he also pledged to focus on building a fair market economy by strengthening monitoring on big companies and helping small and medium-sized enterprises seek more opportunities for growth.
“No one will be willing to exude any entrepreneurial spirit under conditions where strong businesses abuse their power and interrupt innovation and achievement from small ones,” Ju said. “We need to pave the way for economically vulnerable groups, such as startups and the self-employed, to jump onto a path to become the strong ones.”