📌 목차 (Table of Contents)

For a foreign creditor, getting an enforceable title in Korea is often the easy part. The harder part is finding something to enforce against, because debtors who expect to lose move balances, transfer property to relatives, and leave nothing in the contracting company’s name. Korean law gives creditors more investigative tools than many expect: disclosure under oath backed by detention and criminal penalties, court-run searches across banks and registries, and fast bank account attachment. These tools work best used together and in the right order.

Before You Have a Title: What You Can Do Early

Provisional Attachment Comes First
A creditor can apply to freeze deposits, receivables, real property, or shares by showing a prima facie claim and a risk that assets will be moved. Courts decide quickly, without first hearing the debtor, often on condition that the creditor posts security.

Public Records Do More Than Creditors Expect
Real property and corporate registers are open to the public. Audited companies’ financial statements can reveal subsidiaries, receivables, and banking relationships.

Financial Information Through the Lawsuit
In any Korean proceeding, including an execution judgment suit, the court can order banks to produce transaction information. That can show where money went.

Property Disclosure: Making the Debtor Declare Its Assets Under Oath

When It Is Available
A creditor with an enforceable title for a money claim that hasn’t been paid can apply. Qualifying titles include a final judgment, a payment order, a notarized deed, or a settlement protocol. The debtor must appear, list its assets, and swear to the list. For a company, the representative appears.

What Must Be Disclosed
The debtor must list its current assets. It must also list certain earlier transfers made within fixed look-back periods: real property transfers, transfers made for nothing in return, and transfers to close relatives. That look-back often matters more than the current list.

Sanctions
Failing to appear or refusing to submit the list or take the oath can lead to detention of up to 20 days. A false list can bring up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 5 million.

Property Inquiry: Letting the Court Search for You

When the Court Will Search
A creditor can apply when any of these is true:

  • disclosure couldn’t proceed because the debtor’s address is unknown;
  • the disclosed assets aren’t enough to pay the claim;
  • the debtor didn’t cooperate or submitted a false list.

What It Reaches
The court queries the institutions the creditor selects:

  • banks
  • securities firms
  • insurers
  • land and building registries
  • vehicle registries
  • IP registries
  • membership operators

The creditor pays a fee for each institution, so a targeted search is better.

The Limits
The search finds only assets in the debtor’s own name and shows balances only on the inquiry date. It won’t catch nominees, affiliated companies, or transaction history.

Bank Account Attachment: Turning Information Into Money

Attachment and Collection Orders
The attachment takes effect when the order is served on the bank. The collection order then lets the creditor collect the attached amount directly from the bank.

You Don’t Need the Account Number
The creditor names the bank and describes the deposits using ordering conventions Korean courts accept. It can name several banks at once and split the claimed amount among them.

Asking the Bank What It Holds
The creditor can ask the court to require each bank to state what deposits it holds and whether other creditors have already attached them.

Transfer Orders as an Alternative
A transfer order protects the creditor against creditors who attach later. The creditor’s claim is treated as paid to the extent of the deposit transferred, so it should only be used when the deposit clearly exists.

Exemptions for Individual Debtors
Since February 1, 2026, KRW 2.5 million of an individual’s deposits is protected from attachment. Individuals can also hold one designated livelihood account that receives up to KRW 2.5 million a month free from attachment. Neither protection applies to corporate debtors.

When Assets Have Already Moved

Reversing Fraudulent Transfers
A creditor can sue to reverse transfers made to defeat creditors. The claim must be brought within one year of learning of the transfer and within five years of the transfer itself.

The Defaulter List
If the debtor hasn’t paid within six months of a final title, the creditor can have it entered on the court’s list of defaulting debtors, which damages its credit standing.

Practical Sequencing for Tracing and Seizing Assets in Korea

  1. Search public registries and filings at the start of the dispute.
  2. Apply for provisional attachment early.
  3. Use financial information orders in any Korean proceeding.
  4. Once you have a title, apply for property disclosure.
  5. Follow with a targeted property inquiry.
  6. Attach deposits at several banks at once, asking each bank to state what it holds.
  7. Pursue fraudulent transfer claims and defaulter listing within their deadlines.