[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Naver will face trial on allegations of abuse of power related to real estate listing information.
On the 8th, the Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeongseop) announced that it has indicted Naver Corporation without detention on charges of violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act due to abuse of market-dominant position. The charges relate to contracts made with real estate information companies from May 2015 to September 2017, during which Naver allegedly prevented the real estate listing information it received from being provided to its competitor, Kakao.
In December 2020, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) detected Naver's actions and imposed corrective orders along with a fine of 1.032 billion KRW. The KFTC's judgment at the time was that while Naver was providing listing information through partnerships with real estate information providers (CPs), it changed contract terms to block Kakao's market entry after learning that Kakao sought to approach partner companies with a similar business model.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups exercised its right to request a prosecution referral from the KFTC in November last year, after which the prosecution investigation began. The Ministry can request prosecution for cases the KFTC has not referred, considering the damage to small and medium enterprises or social ripple effects, and the KFTC is obliged to comply.
Last month, the prosecution conducted a search and seizure at Naver's headquarters in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, and has been investigating Naver's internal decision-making processes.
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