LG chief: Price will be paid for price-fixing

Chairman Koo calls for executives’ efforts to be fair and become global market leader


LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo said Friday that he will punish any employee involved in price-fixing, saying it goes against the group’s business policies.

In a session held to educate the group’s new top executives, anyone ― regardless of the person’s rank ― will take full responsibility for he or she has taken away the customer’s trust in LG, said Koo.

“Price-fixing is an action that can’t be permitted by a group that emphasizes clean and transparent business methods,” he told the executives.

The session was taken part in by about 30 chief executives of the group’s affiliates and their unit heads.

LG’s commitment to rooting out price-fixing is happening in parallel with its rival Samsung Group’s effort to devise a comprehensive anti-collusion scheme, which also includes measures drafted to get rid of price rigging practices, by this month.

LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo

Samsung said earlier last month that it will figure out the causes of price-fixing in a bid to unveil the comprehensive plan.

The moves were made after the country’s antitrust watchdog fined the two big electronics makers ― Samsung and LG Electronics ― a combined 44.64 billion won ($39.6 million) on Jan. 12 for price-fixing of major home appliance products.

Koo also told the LG top executives to play the transformer role for LG to become a market leader in various sectors, which is related to what he stressed during the global CEO strategic meeting held last month.

“What you should remember is that you should not just show your desires (for the changes), but that you must look after your group members and always be modest,” he said.

The training session for new executives, which took off on Jan. 27, was organized for eight days, concentrating on subjects like leadership and insightfulness.

As part of the session, the chief executives visited six factories, which included its mobile phone plant in Pyeongtaek, washing machine factory in Changwon and battery plant in Ochang.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)