On September 16, 2022, Mr. Ki-Jeong Han, formerly a professor at the Seoul National University School of Law, was officially appointed by President Yoon Suk-yeol as the new Chair of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (the “KFTC”). Mr. Han officially began his three-year term on the same day.
 
Mr. Han is a widely respected legal scholar with degrees from the Seoul National University and the University of Cambridge. He previously served as the Dean of Seoul National University School of Law and the President of the Korea Insurance Research Institute. Other positions he has held throughout his career include member of the advisory council to the Constitutional Court and Chair of the Audit Committee at the Ministry of Justice. Mr. Han is known to take a generally market-friendly approach to legal issues and policy. During confirmation hearings, Mr. Han highlighted his previous academic and advisory work regarding cartel enforcement, consumer protection, standard form contracts, and entry barriers. He also pointed to his long involvement in efforts to reform procedures and practices used by government agencies.
 
In his inaugural address to the agency staff, Mr. Han stressed the role of the KFTC in ensuring an efficient and dynamic market-based economy and laid out four priorities for the agency going forward:
 

• Promote “innovative competition” through vigorous enforcement law and competition advocacy;
• Implement policies regarding large conglomerates in a reasonable manner;
• Promote “fair competition” through protection of small- and medium-sized businesses and consumers; and
• Modernize enforcement practices to increase the transparency and predictability of agency actions.

While much about the agency will continue unchanged, we expect that some of the decisions and matters that had been pending before the agency and waiting for the new Chair will start moving more quickly. Given Mr. Han’s comments about the importance of modernizing enforcement practices, we also expect that the KFTC will make greater efforts to institute procedural reforms that will enhance the efficiency and transparency of the agency’s enforcement actions.