Korea slaps $112m fines on top firms

Seoul: South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday it imposed 105 billion won ($111.9 million) in fines on most of the country's top petrochemical companies for colluding to lift prices of petrochemical products.

SK Corp was fined 23.8 billion won and Korea Petrochemical fined 21.2 billion won. Daelim Industrial was fined 11.7 billion won and LG Chem 13.1 billion.

Honam Petrochemical Corp was excused as it was the first to admit to colluding over prices.

The top 10 companies, accounting for 85 per cent of South Korea's petrochemical industry, were found to have colluded for nearly 11 years since 1994, FTC said in a statement.