South Korean and Japanese antitrust watchdogs agreed Friday to expand cooperation on anti-cartel activities and better review cross-border business mergers.
  

At the annual competition policy coordination meeting in Seoul, the Fair Trade Commission said it emphasized the importance of fueling competition in the information and communication technology sector, and the need to better monitor cartel activities.
  

The FTC also outlined the need to enhance efficiency in the way mergers and acquisition cases are checked, prevention of unfair trading between large conglomerates and small and medium enterprises, and counter market distorting activities carried out by public companies.
  

Representatives from the Japan Fair Trade Commission said Tokyo too is committed to rooting out unfair trade practices and aggressively promotes the expansion of free and open markets that is critical for enhancing competition.
  

Officials from two countries said that since the two neighbors share similar industrial structures and have to cope with similar challenges, it makes sense to work with each other to tackle outstanding problems. They also agreed to work together on fair competition-related cases in the international arena.
  

South Korean and Japanese antitrust authorities have been holding regular, annual meetings since 1990. (Yonhap)