The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it imposed provisional fines of 331.1 billion won on Woowa Brothers, operator of Baedal Minjok or Baemin and 300.8 billion won on Coupang, operator of Coupang Eats, for abusing their market dominance to restrict restaurants' pricing freedom and undermine competition.
The combined penalties mark the largest-ever fines imposed on food delivery platforms in South Korea.
The watchdog found that the two apps pressured restaurants to offer prices, minimum order amounts and discounts at least as favorable as those available on competing platforms, limiting their ability to set prices independently.
Known as most-favored-nation (MFN) requirements, the practices prevented restaurants from offering lower prices through smaller delivery platforms, even when those services charged lower commissions.
The FTC said the restrictions weakened competition, raised restaurant costs and contributed to higher menu prices and minimum order amounts for consumers.
Baemin and Coupang Eats together controlled 92.89 percent of the country's food delivery market by transaction value in 2025, up from 88.10 percent in 2023.
The watchdog said their simultaneous use of MFN requirements produced effects similar to collusion by encouraging uniform commission rates and trading conditions, although the penalties were imposed for abuse of market dominance rather than cartel violations.
Coupang began enforcing the requirements in July 2023, threatening to remove restaurants that failed to comply from its Wow Store program, which offered delivery discounts to subscribers.
The company also introduced a system allowing it to directly adjust restaurants' trading conditions.
Baemin adopted similar requirements for its Baemin Club program in May 2024, restricting subscriber delivery benefits to restaurants that met its pricing conditions.
Restaurants excluded from the membership programs faced substantial declines in orders and revenue, leaving many with little choice but to comply, according to the FTC.
The FTC said the practices allowed Coupang to maintain high commission rates while Baemin raised its own-delivery commission rate from 6.8 percent to 9.8 percent in August 2024.
Baemin was separately penalized for steering restaurants away from merchant-arranged delivery toward its own delivery service, which generated higher revenue for the platform. It reduced the visibility of merchant-arranged delivery options, removed a lower-cost flat-fee plan and restricted restaurants' ability to set different prices and minimum order amounts for the two services.
The FTC said the shift increased commission burdens on restaurants while reducing business opportunities for independent delivery companies.
Baemin was also found to have misled consumers by displaying longer estimated delivery times for merchant-arranged services than for its own delivery options.
An FTC analysis found that merchant-arranged deliveries actually took 31.5 minutes on average, compared with 32.9 minutes for Baemin's lower-cost own-delivery option. Yet the app displayed estimated times that made merchant-arranged deliveries appear about 13 minutes slower.
The watchdog ordered Baemin to reconsider commission rates for merchant-arranged delivery and periodically review the accuracy of its delivery time estimates.
Separately, Coupang was ordered to revise contractual terms that calculated brokerage and payment processing fees on prices before discounts, even when restaurants bore the cost of those discounts. The company must amend the provisions within 60 days of receiving the order.
The FTC said the measures were intended to restore restaurants' freedom to set prices and choose delivery services while improving competitive conditions for smaller platforms and independent delivery operators.
In a separate proceeding, the commission ordered a fresh review of allegations that Coupang improperly tied food delivery and streaming services to its Wow membership program, citing unresolved legal questions over the arrangement.
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