South Korea's Democratic Party of Korea and the Fair Trade Commission agreed to pursue five legislative measures that would expand penalties for repeat price-fixing in 17 licensed industries, including oil refining, pharmaceuticals, electrical construction and passenger and freight transport. The FTC could ask relevant ministries to suspend a company's operations or revoke its registration if it commits price-fixing twice or more within five years, including violations for which the company received leniency-related reductions in fines or criminal referrals. The package would extend the deadline to open cartel investigations to 10 years after conduct ends, raising the maximum enforcement period to 15 years from 12 years, and would codify price-reset orders. It also ends corrective-order exemptions for voluntary cartel reporters, while earlier plans to add education offices to the Bid-Rigging Indicator Analysis System remain part of the wider enforcement agenda. The FTC has imposed 2.4372 trillion won in fines across five major cartel cases this year and is pursuing structural remedies such as share divestitures and business transfers. Critics say suspensions or forced exits could reduce competition where replacement entrants are difficult to attract, while FTC Chairman Joo Byung-ki said sanctions must exceed the gains from unlawful conduct.