SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sung Jin Kim, Jay J. Kim, Chunsoo Lee and Joe Kim, Kim & Chang
2.5 Pre-Action Procedures and Requirements for Product Liability Claims There are no pre-action procedures required before filing a product liability claim. Claimants may file a product liability claim directly to the civil court. 2.6 Rules for Preservation of Evidence in Product Liability Claims There are no evidence preservation rules specific to product liability cases in Korea. Any party to a civil litigation can use evidence preservation procedures as a pre-litigation dis - covery strategy under the Civil Procedure Act. The purpose of these procedures is to examine and preserve the relevant evidence in advance, when it is apparent that accessing or obtaining it will be difficult if the party waits for the formal litigation proceedings to start. The court has dis - cretion to grant a request for evidence preserva - tion. While there is explicit penalty provision (eg, adverse inference) for breaching the evidence preservation order, the court may consider non- compliance as a factor in issuing its judgment. 2.7 Rules for Disclosure of Documents in Product Liability Cases There is no common law rule of discovery (ie, a US-style discovery system) in South Korea. Par - ties to an action are only required to submit the documents that are necessary to substantiate the relevant claim or defence. However, a party can request the court to order the opposing party or a third party to produce specific documents in their possession. More specifically, under Article 344 of the Civil Pro - cedure Act, a party can request a document production order in any of the following circum - stances:
• the other party possesses a document that has been cited in the same proceeding; • the requesting party is legally entitled to request the holder of the document to deliver or make the document available for inspec - tion; or • the document was prepared for the request - ing party’s benefit, or pertains to a legal relationship between the requesting and the requested party. A request for a document production order must clearly indicate: • the document requested; • the facts to be proved by the document; and • the grounds on which the document should be produced. 2.8 Rules for Expert Evidence in Product Liability Cases • the contents of the document; • the holder of the document; There are no explicit rules relating to expert evi - dence in product liability cases. In general, the civil court can, on its own initiative or on a party’s request, appoint an expert to provide assistance on any technical issues. After an expert report or statement has been submitted, the court can require the expert to testify in court to clarify or supplement their written submission. There are no specific rules on the nature or extent of expert evidence and the court decides on its admis - sibility at its discretion. A party can also submit evidence from its own expert in the form of an expert report or testimony. A party-appointed expert can be cross-examined by the opposing party.
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