A number of Japan's largest auto parts makers have been fined tens of millions of dollars by South Korea's antitrust watchdog for price fixing.<br />The Fair Trade Commission says the companies had been working together to fix prices to rip off South Korean automakers for a decade.<br />Lee Seung-jae reports.<br />South Korea's Fair Trade Commission says four of Japan's largest auto parts makers have been fined a combined 76 million U.S. dollars.<br />The firms were found to have been fixing prices in collusion when selling alternators and ignition coils to local automakers for a period spanning 10 years.<br />The four Japanese firms include Mitsubishi Electric and Hitachi Automotive Systems, which were fined over 66.4 million dollars and 3.4 million dollars respectively,... and were referred to prosecutors.<br />Denso Corporation and Diamond Electric Manufacturing were fined nearly 3.5 million dollars and 2.2 million dollars,... but were not referred to prosecutors.<br />The FTC says three firms, Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Denso, agreed to allocate their automaker clients before selling alternators,... a practice which lasted from 2004 to 2014.<br />When automakers sent requests for quotes,... sales personnel of the three companies gathered to discuss prices.<br />When selling ignition coil parts,... three firms,... Diamond, Mitsubishi and Denso, fixed prices from 2011 to 2016.<br />When automakers made bids for the parts,... Diamond gave up the bid to respect the commercial supremacy of Denso,... while Mitsubishi presented the highest bid.<br />The South Korean car most impacted by the price fixing was Renault Samsung's QM5 model,... which used parts from Mitsubishi Electric.<br />Through the scheme by the companies involved,... the QM5 model used overpriced parts until it was discontinued.<br />The FTC says the fines were to be announced last month,... but was delayed, amid concerns it would worsen the trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.<br />However,... with Tokyo's decision to remove Seoul from its whitelist of trusted trading partners,... the South Korean government decided to make the announcement now.<br />Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.<br />
