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In Korea, damages for infringements of the competition law provisions are an inadequate remedy to order the damages suffered and deter future violations. In contrast, the United States has a sound system that allows private enforcement to seek damages by various means such as the legal system, institution, culture, and social system. As a result, such private enforcement of competition law has developed to the level of replacing public enforcement.

On the other hand, private enforcements face difficulties especially in countries where such a system is not established to exert their deterrence in place of public enforcements. Therefore, the task is to build a system that private enforcement serves the fundamental function to grant compensation for damages. The European Union cases illustrate that victims of antitrust infringements through public enforcement are fully compensated for damages via subsequent trials.

In Korea, treble damages for infringements of the competition law have emerged recently. Nevertheless, there are still structural drawbacks due to various institutional limitations on compensation for damages. In particular, damages to victims of antitrust violations should be considered as follows: 1) collective compensation system, 2) easy access to relevant evidence, 3) lower burden of proof for damages, and 4) clear and sufficient period of the statute of limitations.

However, because of the similar goas with fines, computation of the treble damages has a risk of proportionality. To resolve the problem, it is necessary to deduct surcharges paid by enterprises when the monetary award has been granted while it is necessary to refund surcharges when damages have been paid.