The Korea Fair Trade Commission (“KFTC”) announced the appointment of Mr. Giu Sung Oh, a former judge, former KFTC General Counsel and former Senior Administrative Officer of the Secretary to the President for Legal Affairs, to serve as one of four Non-Standing Commissioners of the KFTC for a tenure of three years. Effective as of June 24, 2024, Mr. Oh succeeds former Non-Standing Commissioner Mr. Jung-hee Lee, whose term ended on June 20. The KFTC also announced the appointment, effective as of June 24, 2024, of Mr. Dong-il Nam, the current Director General of the Competition Policy Bureau, as the new Secretary General for Policy, and of Mr. Seong-gwon Yook, the current Secretary General for Policy, as the new Secretary General for Investigation.

Mr. Oh, the new KFTC Non-Standing Commissioner, holds an LL.B. from Seoul National University’s College of Law and an LL.M. from the University of California, Los Angeles (“UCLA”) School of Law. After passing the Korean bar in 2000, he worked for 17 years as a judge, including at the Changwon District Court (as a Presiding Judge). Mr. Oh retired from the judiciary in 2020, and joined the KFTC as its General Counsel, supervising the operation of the KFTC’s full committee hearings and writing the KFTC’s committee decisions. Following his two-year term at the KFTC, he worked for a year at Kim & Chang in 2022.
 

• According to the KFTC’s press release announcing his appointment, Mr. Oh, during his term as the KFTC’s General Counsel, helped the KFTC significantly improve the success rate of its litigations involving KFTC decisions, thereby reaffirming trust in the KFTC’s enforcement activities, and made efforts to strike a balance between the respondents’ right to defense and protection of the other parties’ trade secrets by introducing a restricted data room system, similar to that adopted by the European Commission.

• Mr. Oh is expected to make a significant contribution to the KFTC’s decisions based on his extensive experience as a court judge, the KFTC’s General Counsel and an antitrust attorney.
   

Mr. Nam, the new Secretary General for Policy, holds an LL.B. from Kyungpook National University Law School and an M.A. in engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (“KAIST”). Mr. Nam joined public service in 1997 and has served in various capacities at the KFTC, including Spokesperson, Director General of the Consumer Policy Bureau, and most recently, Director General of the Competition Policy Bureau. From 2012 to 2013, he was seconded to US law firm Steptoe & Johnson as part of the KFTC’s external training program.
 

• According to the press release announcing his appointment, Mr. Nam has extensive experience and expertise in all of the KFTC’s major policy areas. Recently, he has proactively implemented policies that can have a direct impact on the livelihoods of SMEs and small business owners, including by working to enact a new Fair Trade Dispute Resolution Act, which will provide a new avenue for SMEs and small business owners to seek relief for damages under an improved dispute resolution system.

• Mr. Nam, who is well-respected among his peers at the KFTC for his pragmatic and open-minded approach to his work, outgoing personality, and his extensive experience at the KFTC, including as the KFTC’s Spokesperson, Director for Planning & Budget and Director of the Administration Division, is regarded as the best fit at this time to serve as the KFTC’s Secretary General for Policy, a position that requires internal and external communication skills.
   

Mr. Yook, the new Secretary General for Investigation, holds an LL.B. from Seoul National University, an LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, and an M.A. in public policy from the Korea Development Institute’s School of Public Policy and Management. Since joining public service in 1996, Mr. Yook has served in various capacities at the KFTC, including Director General of the Business Group Bureau, Director General of the Anti-Monopoly Investigation Bureau, and most recently, Secretary General for Policy. In 2022, he completed a course on high-level policy at the National Human Resources Development Institute as part of the KFTC’s external training program.
 

• According to the press release announcing his appointment, Mr. Yook, during his term as Director General of the Anti-Monopoly Investigation Bureau, led the case that resulted in the KFTC imposing sanctions against Korea’s three major telecommunications companies for engaging in unfair labeling and advertising of their 5G services. As Director General of the Business Group Bureau, Mr. Yook helped prevent unfair economic concentration by detecting and correcting unfair provision of support to affiliates by large business groups.

• Based on his legal expertise and abundant experience at various KFTC divisions, Mr. Yook is expected to fulfill his role as the new Secretary General for Investigation, a position that supervises all cases handled by the KFTC, and thereby help enhance trust in the KFTC’s case processing efforts.