"Naver Fined 200 Million Won in First Trial for 'Real Estate Listing Abuse'... 'Unfairly Excluded Competitors'"

Fined 200 Million Won in First Trial

Naver was fined 200 million won in the first trial held on September 18, after being indicted on allegations of abusing its market dominance against real estate listing information providers. The sentence matches the prosecution's recommendation.

At the sentencing hearing for Naver, which was charged with violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, Chief Judge Lim Hyewon of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 19 ruled Naver guilty and imposed a fine of 200 million won.

Judge Lim stated, "Naver is a dominant player in the real estate information comparison service market, with a 100% market share," and added, "In order to unfairly exclude competitors, Naver entered into contracts with real estate portal companies prohibiting them from providing information to third parties, thereby excluding its sole competitor, Daum, and further strengthening its market monopoly."

She continued, "As the top portal operator in Korea, the defendant fundamentally blocked potential competitors from entering the market, further reinforcing its dominant position. This directly undermines the intent of the law, which aims to promote fair and free competition and balanced development of the national economy."

Naver was accused of signing contracts with real estate information providers between May 2015 and September 2017, prohibiting them from sharing real estate listing information supplied to Naver with competitors such as Kakao.

Previously, the prosecution indicted Naver in September 2022 for violating the Fair Trade Act, arguing that Naver abused its dominant position as Korea's top portal operator to unfairly exclude competitors. Prior to this, the Fair Trade Commission imposed a corrective order and a fine of 1.032 billion won on Naver and referred the case to the prosecution.

Naver denied the charges during the trial. However, at the final hearing on August 25, the prosecution requested the court to impose a fine of 200 million won on Naver.