Small and Medium-Sized Printing Businesses Urge National Assembly to Develop Measures to Remedy Harm from Printing-Paper Price Fixing

Joint Press Conference with Members of the Democratic Party of Korea's Committee for the Protection of People's Livelihood

The Korea Federation of Printing Cooperatives and 11 regional cooperatives announced that they held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall on October 20 with Assemblymen Lee Kangil and Song Jaebong, members of the Democratic Party of Korea's Committee for the Protection of People's Livelihood, calling for comprehensive measures to remedy the harm caused by price fixing in printing paper and strengthen the competitiveness of the printing industry.

The press conference was organized to urge the government, the National Assembly and large corporations to develop comprehensive measures to protect the livelihoods of more than 20,000 small and medium-sized printing businesses and approximately 68,000 workers nationwide who are struggling due to price fixing by six major printing-paper manufacturers, and to provide meaningful remedies for the harm and strengthen the industry's competitiveness.

According to the federation, printing-paper prices surged by an average of 71% as a result of price fixing by major manufacturers over the past four years or so, and the total damage to the printing industry is estimated to have exceeded 520 billion won. The damage to the industry is severe: around 4,000 small and medium-sized printing companies that were unable to pass on rising costs to their delivery prices have been driven out of business.

The demands of printing professionals nationwide are ▲efforts by large corporations to remedy the harm suffered by printing companies and promote mutual growth, including contributions to the Commission for Corporate Partnership's Win-Win Cooperation Fund ▲a government survey of affected businesses and effective recovery measures, including the prompt establishment of a fund to provide relief for victims of unfair trade practices ▲emergency financial support for affected businesses, including expanded policy financing and special guarantees, as well as tax support, including expanded special tax reductions and loss carryback deductions ▲improvements to printing-paper trade practices, including the introduction of a fixed-price transaction system or guidelines for standard discount rates and ongoing market monitoring, and improvements to public procurement, including the introduction of a standard cost model for public printing and changes to the lowest-price bidding system ▲and support for adopting digital and environmentally friendly equipment and facilities.

Park Jangseon, chair of the Korea Federation of Printing and Information Industry Cooperatives, said, "The Fair Trade Commission imposed fines of approximately 338 billion won, but reduced them by about 194.2 billion won under its leniency program for voluntary reporting, while the small and medium-sized printing companies that suffered direct harm received not a single won in compensation. Sanctions against large corporations alone cannot remedy the damage. The government and the National Assembly must urgently develop meaningful recovery measures so that affected businesses can get back on their feet."

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