SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jeena Kim, Kyunghwan Lee, Eunyoung Row and Bochan Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC
2.5 Intermediaries Bribery can occur through intermediaries. Article 130 of the Criminal Code provides that bribing a public official or an arbitrator who causes, demands or prom - ises a bribe to be given to a third party on acceptance of an unjust solicitation in connection with their duties shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years or with suspension of qualifications for not more than ten years. Article 133 (2) also sets out that a person who, for the purpose of offering a bribe, deliv - ers money or goods to a third party, or who receives such delivery with the knowledge of its nature, shall be punished as a briber. 2.6 Lobbyists South Korean law does not require registration or reporting of communications with public officials or state-owned enterprises. Depending on the specific case, a statute of limita - tions of five to ten years typically applies, though if the amount of the bribe exceeds KRW100 million a 15-year statute of limitations may apply. See Article 249 of the Criminal Procedure Act. 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation The criminal laws of South Korea apply to the follow - ing persons. 3. Scope of Application 3.1 Limitation Period • Article 2 of the Criminal Code: anyone, including Korean nationals and foreign nationals, who com - mits a crime within the territory of South Korea. This includes cases where any part of the criminal act takes place in South Korea or its effects are felt within South Korea. • Article 3 of the Criminal Code: all Korean nationals who commit a crime outside the territory of South Korea. • Article 6 of the Criminal Code: Foreign nationals who commit crimes outside the territory of South Korea against South Korea or its nationals. How - ever, the criminal law of South Korea will not apply if the act does not constitute a crime or if pros -
ecution or execution of the sentence is exempted under the law of the place where it was committed. 3.3 Corporate Liability In general, individuals can only be held liable for brib - ery if specific sentencing provisions apply to the cir - cumstances surrounding the bribery. Directors and officers of a corporation are not auto - matically liable for bribery committed by their employ - ees. However, if they consented to or approved the corrupt actions, they could be charged with conspir - acy to commit bribery. The Graft Act, the FBPA and certain industry-specific laws (eg, the Medical Devices Act, the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, the Framework Act on the Construction Industry, and the Housing Act) explicitly impose vicari - ous liability on corporations. Under these laws, a cor - poration can be criminally liable for bribery committed by its employees or agents. However, a corporation can avoid liability by proving that it took adequate steps to supervise its employees. Vicarious liability applies to the corporation itself, meaning a successor entity can be held accountable for offences committed by the target entity prior to a merger or acquisition. 4. Defences and Exceptions 4.1 Defences No defence is available under South Korean legisla - tion.
4.2 Exceptions See 4.1 Defences . 4.3 De Minimis Exceptions
No de minimis exception is applicable to bribery in general. However, please see 2.1 Bribery for certain exceptions applicable to gifts and entertainment with a monetary threshold. 4.4 Exempt Sectors/Industries No specific sectors or industries are exempt from the anti-bribery regime.
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