The country of 52 million population has largely been a Covid-19 mitigation success story, thanks mainly to widespread wearing of masks, social distancing and aggressive testing and tracing.

Lee Jae-yong was fined US$60,000 by the Seoul Central District Court, around 0.0006% of his estimated US$10.2 billion fortune.

The penalty came weeks after South Korea passed a law banning major app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.

The new policy is geared towards attracting more high-quality and knowledge-based industries rather than the traditional labour-intensive ones.

Tests will be limited to pets that show symptoms – including fever, coughing, breathing difficulties and runny noses – after coming into contact with humans who have tested positive.

His lawyer says he 'will humbly accept the ruling and has decided not to appeal'.