Litigation in Korea – Part 1

We frequently act for foreign clients who are involved in legal disputes with Korean entities. These can range from simple debt collection matters to litigating very complex legal issues.

It is proposed to write a series of short articles covering the following broad topics to provide an insight into the litigation process in Korea:-

• Pre-action searches and enquiries
• Litigation strategy and preliminary attachments
• Court process and Appeals
• Execution of Judgements and Legal costs

Pre-action searches and enquiries

Korea has strict privacy laws, so the information we are able to obtain on potential defendants is generally quite limited. The searches and enquires we would normally make include the following.

Search of the Corporate Register

A copy of the corporate register is available through an agency of the Ministry of Justice. The corporate register contains all the usual information you would expect e.g. company name, registered address, authorised and issued share capital, directors etc. It also contains the home address of the Representative Director.

Property Search

We are able to do a search of a particular property if we have its address. This will reveal who is the property owner and whether there are any mortgagees. We will conduct this search to see whether a company owns or leases the property it operates from. We will also search the property address of the Representative Director to see whether they own it or not.

Credit Searches

Credit searches are quite limited in Korea. They will generally repeat the information contained in the corporate register. They also usually provide the latest filed accounts of the company. Sometimes, they will reveal the shareholders of the company. They will of course provide a credit rating.

Summary

Whilst the information we are able to obtain on potential defendants pre-action is relatively limited, we are usually able, together with information provided from our clients, to create a reasonably accurate picture of the proposed defendant’s credit worthiness from which we can formulate a litigation strategy.