The Seoul Metropolitan Liquor Association was fined 150 million won to prevent competition to secure clients.

The Seoul Metropolitan Liquor Association, which controlled competition to secure customers by preventing price competition among wholesalers of alcohol, was fined by the Fair Trade Commission.

The Fair Trade Commission said it will impose a fine of 145 million won and a corrective order to the Seoul, Incheon, northern Gyeonggi and southern Gyeonggi Provincial Liquor Wholesale Associations, which violated the Fair Trade Act's prohibition of business groups.

They were caught by the Fair Trade Commission in 2014 after creating an operating regulation containing sanctions against businesses that violated the principle of pre-transaction system to protect member companies' existing customers.

The FTC said it sanctioned 10 years of misconduct in the Seoul metropolitan market, which accounts for more than half of the nation's total liquor wholesale market, and expected competition between soju and beer prices to be activated.