companies quit their appeals. On the other hand, the remaining three
manufacturers continued to pursue lawsuits in the Seoul High Court, like
Showa Denko.
In their appeals to the KFTC, the 5 companies questioned KFTC’s
jurisdiction, illegality issues of service and violation of the respondents’ right
of defense since the KFTC only provided its review report in Korean.
Ultimately, their claims were dismissed based on the reasoning discussed in
the following sections. Regarding Nippon Carbon, however, considering the
nature and extent of its violation, i.e., due to its passive participation in the
cartel and rare execution of the cartel agreements in the Korean market, the
KFTC ruled that the surcharges imposed on Nippon Carbon should have been
significantly lower than the other participants. Nippon Carbon was originally
imposed a surcharge based on the highest rate of 3% along with Showa Denko.
Hence, accepting Nippon Carbon’s argument, its surcharges were reduced by
70% in interest of fairness and proportionality.