A number of Japan's largest auto parts makers have been fined tens of millions of dollars by South Korea's antitrust watchdog for price fixing.
The Fair Trade Commission says the companies had been working together to fix prices to rip off South Korean automakers for a decade.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission says four of Japan's largest auto parts makers have been fined a combined 76 million U.S. dollars.
The firms were found to have been fixing prices in collusion when selling alternators and ignition coils to local automakers for a period spanning 10 years.
The four Japanese firms include Mitsubishi Electric and Hitachi Automotive Systems, which were fined over 66.4 million dollars and 3.4 million dollars respectively,... and were referred to prosecutors.
Denso Corporation and Diamond Electric Manufacturing were fined nearly 3.5 million dollars and 2.2 million dollars,... but were not referred to prosecutors.
The FTC says three firms, Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Denso, agreed to allocate their automaker clients before selling alternators,... a practice which lasted from 2004 to 2014.
When automakers sent requests for quotes,... sales personnel of the three companies gathered to discuss prices.
When selling ignition coil parts,... three firms,... Diamond, Mitsubishi and Denso, fixed prices from 2011 to 2016.
When automakers made bids for the parts,... Diamond gave up the bid to respect the commercial supremacy of Denso,... while Mitsubishi presented the highest bid.
The South Korean car most impacted by the price fixing was Renault Samsung's QM5 model,... which used parts from Mitsubishi Electric.
Through the scheme by the companies involved,... the QM5 model used overpriced parts until it was discontinued.
The FTC says the fines were to be announced last month,... but was delayed, amid concerns it would worsen the trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.
However,... with Tokyo's decision to remove Seoul from its whitelist of trusted trading partners,... the South Korean government decided to make the announcement now.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.