Joowon Law · Insights
Clear notes for companies entering Korea and overseas Koreans managing matters here. Read the context, then decide the next move.
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Most foreign companies with Korean employees have a non-compete clause somewhere, usually in a global employment template, an equity award agreement, or a headquarters-drafted separation agreement. Korean courts…
When a foreign parent decides to part ways with the head of its Korean operation, it usually treats the move as a corporate governance decision: remove the director,…
Table of Contents Korea’s First-to-File System Turns Registration Speed Into Legal Risk Registration, Not Use, Creates the RightKorea’s trademark system is a first-to-file jurisdiction: whoever files the application…
Most foreign parent companies deciding to exit the Korean market face the same choice: go through formal dissolution and liquidation — a multi-month process involving a shareholder resolution,…
Most foreign companies roll out their global equity compensation plan to a newly hired Korean team the same way they roll it out everywhere else: the parent company’s…
Most overseas Koreans and foreign residents who own property in Korea treat the ownership itself as the finish line — the purchase closed, the registration is done, and…
Companies expanding into Korea usually treat finding the right distributor or franchise partner as the urgent task, and treat trademark registration as paperwork to handle once the launch…
Foreign companies signing contracts with a Korean counterparty often treat the paperwork the same way they would at home: get a signature from someone who sounds senior, file…
Most companies that store Korean customer data on regional or global cloud infrastructure — AWS’s Singapore or Tokyo region, a US-based CRM, a global data warehouse — don’t…
Governing law clauses get negotiated as if they were a matter of national pride — each side wants “its own” law, and the clause often ends up decided…
