FTC to Decide on Media Appeal November 21

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will consider whether it will accept an appeal from eight different newspaper groups, including the Chosun Ilbo and DongA Ilbo, who have raised objections about monetary penalties for alleged unfair internal trades. An official of the commission said FTC would hold a plenary session to discuss the matter November 21 as the period of consultation (60 days and a 30 day extension) for the objections are almost due. "Given how individual cases have been dealt with in the past, it is unlikely the FTC will recognize the appeals of only some of the news media companies. It will more likely debate whether to accept all or none of them," the official added.

Earlier, the FTC had issued a W24.2 billion penalty on 13 newspaper groups on June 13 for illegal internal trading, tax evasion, and embezzlement. 8 newspaper groups including the Chosun and DongA immediately filed objections against the ruling.

(Kim Young-jin, hellojin@chosun.com)

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