The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has rejected Microsoft's objection to last year's ruling that it is guilty of anti-competitive behaviour.

In December 2005, South Korean regulators fined Microsoft $34m and ordered it to produce a version of Windows without bundling a media player and instant messaging software. The ruling is not dissimilar to the European Commission case, but Microsoft has described it as even more severe.

However, the software giant can still appeal the case in Korea's High Court.

Microsoft said in a statement that it respected the commission's decision, but continued to believe it had not broken Korean competition laws and so would defend the case in Seoul's High Court.

A complaint was originally made by a Korean portal, but Microsoft paid them off in November 2005.

More from Reuters here and AP here. ®

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