The backdrop to Chairman Joo Byungki of the Fair Trade Commission bringing up the idea of removing the cap on whistleblower rewards was the strong determination and directive of President Jae-myung Lee to root out entrenched unfair business practices in the economy.
At a Cabinet meeting in February, President Lee strongly emphasized the need for a high-reward system, stating, "If someone reports collusion, give them a reward so generous that it changes their life. Make it so shocking that people think it's better to expose collusion than to play the lottery." At the time, he also remarked, "If the fine is 400 billion won, it's fine to give out several tens of billions of won as a reward." Furthermore, in March, he said, "If damages are caused by collusion, unfair practices, or abuse of monopoly or oligopoly positions, and if a massive fine is imposed and 10% of the fine is paid as a reward, there will be no way to prevent whistleblowing." He thus presented detailed guidelines, including the specific incentive ratio.
Accordingly, the criteria for reward payments to be announced soon by the Fair Trade Commission are also highly likely to follow the "10% of related fines" guideline mentioned by the President. In cases of large-scale collusion, the fines imposed on companies can reach into the hundreds of...
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