South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) reported Wednesday that internal transactions among the country’s top 10 business groups reached $131.6 billion (193 trillion won) so far this year, accounting for 68.7% of all disclosed inter-affiliate trading. The data highlighted a sharp divergence between domestic and offshore activity, with internal trading involving foreign affiliates totaling $351.3 billion (515 trillion won) — nearly double the volume of domestic transactions — while aggregate trademark fees collected by holding companies rose to about $1.5 billion (2.15 trillion won).

The FTC identified a “distinctly higher” internal trading ratio in affiliates where second-generation owner families hold