SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jin Yeong Chung, Inhak Lee and Seung Hyeon Lee, Kim & Chang
9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country In order to enforce a foreign judgment in Korea, a party must obtain an enforcement judgment from the Korean court. Korean courts recognise and enforce the foreign judg- ment if the following conditions are met: • the foreign judgment (including order, decision, etc) is final and conclusive; • the foreign court’s jurisdiction is recognised under Korean law or treaties; • the defendant (ie, the Korean party) was properly served with the complaint (or equivalent docu- ment), summons or any orders in a lawful manner (other than by public notice or similar methods) in advance so as to have sufficient time to prepare their defence, or the defendant participated in the foreign proceedings without having been served; • the foreign judgment does not violate the public policy of Korea; and • a Korean court judgment would be similarly rec- ognised and enforced by the courts in the foreign country in question. If a foreign judgment on damages is contrary to Korean law or the basic policy of international treaties Korea has entered into, the court may not recognise the whole or part of the judgment. A Korean court recently permitted enforcement of the judgment by a US court which awarded a plaintiff three times the amount of actual damages, reasoning that even under the applicable Korean statute, the plaintiff could have received punitive damages.
10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments Appeal to the Appellate Court The grounds for appeal to an appellate court under Korean law are much broader than under most com- mon law jurisdictions. Either party can make an appeal on both legal and factual matters. An appeal must be made by filing a written motion of appeal before the lower court within two weeks from the original judg- ment being served. Parties are allowed to introduce new evidence and arguments, and the court considers the case de novo and upholds or overturns the lower A subsequent appeal to a judgment of the appellate court (ie, the High Court) can be made to the Supreme Court. Unlike an appeal to the High Court, the grounds for appeal to the Supreme Court are strictly limited to questions of law. In addition, the Supreme Court shall dismiss a case without hearing the case any further if any of the fol- lowing grounds are not found in an appeal: • if the judgment of the appellate court is in violation of the constitution; • if the determination on whether an order, rule or disposition is unlawful is wrong; • if any act, order, rule or disposition has been interpreted contrary to a precedent of the Supreme Court; • if a relevant precedent of the Supreme Court on the interpretation of any act, order, rule or disposi- tion does not exist or a precedent of the Supreme Court needs to be altered; • if there exists a serious violation of any act or sub- ordinate statute; or • if there exists any ground prescribed in the provi- court’s judgment as necessary. Appeal to the Supreme Court sions of Article 424 (1)1 to 5 of the KCPA. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal A party who wishes to appeal must file a written motion of appeal before the lower court within two weeks from the original judgment being served. When appealing to the appellate court, the appealing party is not required to submit a written statement that specifies the grounds and the scope of appeal.
10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation
If a decision of the court of first instance (district court) is appealed, the court of appellate level conducts the proceedings de novo (afresh). The decision of the appellate court can be appealed to the Supreme Court only on questions of law.
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