(Reuters-Yonhap) South Korea’s media regulator has delayed a final decision on sanctions against Google and Apple over in-app payment practices it says violated Korean law, nearly three years after the penalties were first proposed.The Korea Media and Communications Commission said Wednesday it heard arguments from both companies at a plenary meeting but deferred a decision pending further deliberation.The regulator found that Google and Apple effectively restricted developers to designated payment methods while charging up to 26 percent commission on third-party billing, just 4 percentage points below their standard 30 percent commission.Google also restricted how different payment options could be presented to users and required them to choose a payment method for each purchase. Apple, meanwhile, excluded third-party billing from some fee discount programs, meaning developers eligible for a 15 percent rate under Apple’s own billing system could still face a 26 percent fee when using an alternative.App review delays were another issue. The regulator identified more than 10,000 cases where Google exceeded its stated review period and 1,658 cases in which Apple took longer than 48 hours, often without clear explanations or expected timelines.Apple also applied different commission standards to Korean and overseas developers from July 2015 to January 2023. While overseas developers were charged based on prices excluding value-added tax, Korean developers were charged on prices including VAT, resulting in an estimated 149.6 billion won ($105.7 million) in additional commissions.The Digital Sovereignty Restoration Citizens Committee has called the practice reverse discrimination, saying commission rates were lowered to zero in the US and 17 percent in Europe and external payments were allowed following court rulings there, while Korean developers continued to face less favorable terms.Korea amended the Telecommunications Business Act in 2021 to ban app market operators from forcing developers to use specific payment methods. The rules took effect in March 2022, and the regulator launched its investigation that August.In October 2023, the regulator proposed fines of up to 47.5 billion won for Google and 20.5 billion won for Apple. A final ruling has since been delayed amid prolonged paralysis at the commission and subsequent government reorganization.Google unveiled a new fee structure this week that would lower app marketplace fees to 10-25 percent from 15-30 percent. The commission said the policy does not currently apply to Korea and could not yet be regarded as a voluntary corrective measure.The final penalties and corrective orders will be decided at a later plenary meeting, the commission said.