Korea’s corporate watchdog will “sternly” deal with price rigging that undermines fair competition in areas closely tied to everyday life, its new head said Monday.

In his inauguration speech, Fair Trade Commission chairman Jeong Jae-chan also promised to step up monitoring on monopolies and abuse of intellectual property rights.

“When it comes to price rigging that hampers market competition in areas closely linked to people’s daily lives, I will respond sternly,” Jeong said. “Monitoring will be strengthened and laws will be enforced accordingly against market leaders’ monopolies and abuse of intellectual property rights, especially in such new areas as mobile platform.”

The former FTC vice chairman said the watchdog will “faithfully” implement the rules introduced last year to prevent additional cross-sharing by conglomerates and reign in intra-group business transactions that exclusively benefit company owners and their families.

As a consumer policy control tower, Jeong said that the watchdog will strengthen its role as a coordinator among government agencies and come up with measures that will help enhance the rights and interests of ordinary consumers.

The FTC will provide more information and help people make better purchasing decisions, a move Jeong said would help reduce the number of consumer complaints, especially among those buying products through overseas online shopping sites. (Yonhap)