SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Yun Jae Baek, Jeonghye Sophie Ahn, Hyunah Park and Seyoung Choe, Yulchon LLC
13.5 Binding of Third Parties The KAA is silent on the issue of whether an arbitral tribunal may assume jurisdiction over a non-signa - tory to the arbitration agreement, regardless of the non-signatory’s nationality. To date, there is no clear instruction from the courts on the type of doctrines a court may adopt in exercising jurisdiction over third parties. More information on this topic may be found in 5.7 Jurisdiction Over Third Parties . However, under the KCAB Rules, the arbitral tribunal may allow third parties to join the arbitration proceed - ings if all parties and the third parties have agreed to the joinder of third parties or if the third parties are a party to the same arbitration agreement and have agreed to the joinder (Article 21). Regarding a similar issue involving third parties, there have been recent discussions on whether the arbitral award may be enforced against non-signatories to the arbitration agreement. However, South Korean courts have yet to rule on this issue.
that specifically allows for it. Also, there are no notable court precedents on this issue. 13.4 Consolidation The KAA does not expressly preclude or permit the consolidation of separate arbitral proceedings. Nevertheless, Article 23 of the KCAB Rules provides for “consolidation of claims” under which an arbitral tribunal may, at a party’s request, consolidate claims brought in separate but pending arbitrations if: • the arbitrations are under the KCAB Rules; • the arbitrations are between the same parties; and • no arbitrator has been appointed in any of the arbitrations. Article 22 of KCAB Rules also allows a “single arbitra - tion under multiple contracts”. This means claims aris - ing under multiple contracts may proceed as one sin - gle arbitration. Under Article 22, claims arising under multiple contracts will be conducted in one single arbitration if all multiple contracts – to the satisfac - tion of the Secretariat – provide for the KCAB Rules, contain arbitration agreements that are compatible with one another, and the claims arise out of the same transaction or series of transactions.
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