South Korea fines Coupang over food-delivery competition practices

South Korea's competition regulator has announced a 300.8 billion won fine against Coupang over practices in the food-delivery market. The penalty is equivalent to about US$220.59 million, according to the announcement reported on November 9.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said the company required merchants to provide favourable terms on its platform when they offered those terms through competing delivery services. The regulator also found that merchants who did not comply faced penalties.

According to the commission, those requirements limited sellers' freedom to set prices and other business conditions independently. It said the practices restricted competition among delivery apps and interfered with rival companies' operations. These are the regulator's findings rather than a separate court judgment described in the report.

The case concerns how a platform treats restaurants and other merchants that also use competing services. The reported announcement does not establish whether the company has paid the fine or whether any appeal has been decided. Those outcomes should not be inferred from the penalty announcement alone.