SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Byung Chang Lee, D&A LLC
the joinder of parties, and must get the court’s permis - sion in this regard. 4.2 Service of Proceedings out of the Jurisdiction The service process for overseas parties is based on the Hague Convention or a bilateral treaty, and it gen - erally takes around six to 12 months in processing. There is no specific option or alternative in Korea to speed up the service process out of the jurisdiction. In monetary claims, the most usual methods of enforcement available in Korea are applications for an attachment order on the bank accounts or real estate held in the name of debtors, provided that the creditor has a final and enforceable judgment. Typi - cally, it takes around three to six months to handle enforcement procedures, depending on the charac - teristic of the attached assets. If a creditor does not have a final and enforceable judgment, however, and wants to preserve the debtor’s assets in advance, the creditor can file an application for a preliminary attach - ment order. 5. Enforcement 5.1 Methods of Enforcement In non-monetary claims where the creditor has a right to deliver a property against the debtor who possess - es it, the creditor can file an application for a delivery request with the enforcing court. 5.2 Enforcement of Foreign Judgments In accordance with Article 217 (1) of the Civil Proce - dure Act, for a foreign judgment to be recognised in Korea, the following requirements must be met: • The foreign court must have had proper interna - tional jurisdiction. • The defendant must have been duly served with process. • The final judgment must not contravene public policy. • Reciprocity must exist. Article 26 (1) of the Civil Enforcement Act stipulates that enforcement of the final foreign judgment or a
judgment recognised as having the same effect may be authorised by a Korean court through an enforce - ment procedure. In accordance with the above provision, during a pro - cedure to obtain enforcement of foreign judgment, the Korean court reviews the requirements for domestic recognition of a foreign judgment under Article 217 (1) of the Civil Procedure Act. 6. Privileges 6.1 Invoking the Privilege Against Self- Incrimination A witness can invoke the right to refuse to provide information when it is related to self-incrimination, or where there is a risk that their relative could be charged. In addition, the fact that a party has actually invoked privilege does not affect the essence of the case, and no inferences are drawn from raising such a privilege. 6.2 Undermining the Privilege Over Communications Exempt From Discovery Pursuant to Article 26 of the Lawyers Act, a lawyer shall not disclose confidential information and has a right to refuse to provide such confidential informa - tion. Until recently, the Korean legal system did not have the sort of privilege widely recognised in com - mon law countries. Such confidentiality or privilege can be restricted when there is an important pub - lic need or the client’s consent, or if it is needed to defend the lawyer’s own interests. However, there is increasing controversy regarding the restriction of confidentiality when there is an important public need, which can be broadly or arbitrarily inter - preted by the investigating authorities. The Korean Bar Association tried to amend the Lawyers Act in order to adopt the attorney–client privilege, which is an indispensable concept in terms of preserving legal professionalism. As a result of these efforts, the Law - yers Act has recently been amended, and under Arti - cle 26-2 attorney–client privilege has been adopted; this provision is scheduled to come into force on 20 February 2027.
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