Key "Retail Issues" to Heat Up This Year's National Assembly Audit...

Most Dark Pattern Cases Corrected Voluntarily
Timapepe Compensation Fund Stalled for 13 Years
570 Blocked Products from Ali and Temu Re-enter the Market

Yonhap News Agency

Coupang, which appeared in the notebook of Kim Minseok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea and is currently at the center of political controversy, is also expected to be a major point of contention in this year’s National Assembly audit. Starting on October 6, the audit is expected to focus on how consumer protection measures have failed to keep pace with the rapid growth of online distribution platforms.

According to the "2026 National Assembly Audit Issue Analysis" published by the National Assembly Research Service on September 13, a key issue is whether the Fair Trade Commission's (FTC) regulation of dark patterns truly protects consumers. Dark patterns refer to deceptive design practices that manipulate online interfaces to induce consumers to make purchases or payments they do not wish to make.

The FTC identified 45 suspected cases of dark patterns at 36 online businesses last year, but resolved 34 of them through voluntary corrections and only required corrective action plans for the remaining 11 cases. In May this year, the FTC also issued recommendations, rather than formal sanctions, in response to "false discounts" and "limited-time alerts" at four online shopping malls. The National Assembly Research Service warned that this approach could send the wrong signal to businesses, suggesting that they can operate as they wish and simply fix issues if caught.

A prime example cited was the sanction imposed on Coupang. Last year, the FTC issued a corrective order and imposed a 2.5 million won fine on Coupang for luring consumers using deceptive methods. The National Assembly Research Service questioned whether this amount is sufficient to prevent recurrence, given Coupang's business scale and user base. If the penalty is less than the profit gained from the illegal act, companies could regard it as a routine business expense.

Even after the Timon and WeMakePrice incidents, there are still no mechanisms in place to promptly address large-scale consumer damages. In the WeMakePrice collective dispute mediation, 22,005 consumers participated, but if the business does not accept the mediation plan, it cannot be enforced. Even if consumers win lawsuits, actually receiving compensation becomes difficult if the company goes bankrupt.

The FTC is promoting the creation of a relief fund for victims financed from penalty surcharges, but similar plans have been in limbo for 13 years since first being proposed in 2013. Currently before the National Assembly are two Fair Trade Act amendments, separately sponsored by Assembly members Kim Namgeun and Kim Hyunjung, and a National Finance Act revision by Assemblyman Kim Namgeun. These bills would use penalty surcharges to create an ‘Unfair Trade Damage Relief Fund’ to support consumers, small businesses, and the self-employed. However, none have cleared the legislative subcommittee stage. Whether the fund would provide direct compensation and what proportion of penalty surcharges would be allocated also remains undecided.

The situation is similar for personal data leak incidents. The Personal Information Protection Commission imposed a record-setting fine of 624.681 billion won on Coupang for leaking data belonging to approximately 37.55 million people. However, the fine is taken into the national treasury and does not go directly to the victims. In lawsuits over personal data breaches, the average compensation awarded has only been about 100,000 won.

Coupang provided a 50,000 won voucher to 33.7 million affected accounts as notification of the leak. However, this compensation was conditional on use with their own services, which has been criticized as closer to a promotional tactic to win back customers than as genuine restitution for losses.

Management of dangerous products on Aliexpress and Temu is also expected to be discussed during the audit. The FTC reported having detected 8,441 cases of hazardous overseas products last year and blocking the sale of 8,385 cases (99.3%). However, this percentage only applies to the products caught, and there is no way to know how many dangerous items in total are being distributed on these platforms.

A survey by the Korea Consumer Agency found that 570 recalled overseas products, which had already been blocked, were put back on sale after changing the product name, image, or seller account. Out of 3,876 daily chemical and metal accessory products sold on Aliexpress and Temu, 563 failed to meet domestic safety standards. Because product safety agreements are not legally binding, there have been calls to also manage buyer notifications, refunds, and recall performance.

In the duty-free sector, there is a call to examine whether arrival duty-free pickup counters—currently only operated at the international passenger terminal at Busan Port—should be expanded to other airports.

Separately from the policy issues raised by the National Assembly Research Service, the Starbucks Korea "May 18 Tank Day" controversy is another variable in this year's retail sector audit. Given that Eui Jeongjin, Chairman of Shinsegae Group, has apologized and dismissed Starbucks Korea’s CEO, issues relating to the event approval process and the group’s marketing review protocol are likely to be reviewed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.