South Korea's trade mediation agency resolved 41.4 billion won ($35.8 million) worth of unfair contracts through arbitrations during the first six months of the year, the corporate watchdog said Sunday.

   The Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency -- a body under the Fair Trade Commission, the state antitrust office -- mediated

1,242 cases of unfair trading, subcontract work, franchise operations and retail business in the January-June period, up 28 percent from a year earlier, according to the FTC.

   It said out of all disputes, 644 cases were settled by arbitration, with others going to court.

 

  The agency was founded in 2007 to handle corporate disputes involving small and midsized firms and to speed up arbitration so swift resolutions can be reached.

   It aims to tackle the massive concentration of market power in large conglomerates, which are sometimes blamed for wielding excessive power over smaller competitors and subcontractors.

   Recently, new FTC Chairman Kim Sang-jo, a former civil activist known for advocating minor shareholders' rights, vowed to protect social and corporate underdogs in a way that enhances fair market competition in the country and keeps large business groups from abusing their dominant status. (Yonhap)