Introduction East and Central Asia sees further efforts to promote arbitration through legislative and regulatory developments. Domestic courts clarified issues fundamental to arbitration and the judicial enforcement of arbitral awards. Domestic legislative and judicial bodies and arbitral institutions continue to grapple with recent trends and come up with innovative solutions that reflect the unique experience…

On the first day of the 2023 Seoul ADR Festival, Secretariat Advisors hosted a double feature of panels relating to arbitration costs. The first panel focusing on the recovery of arbitration costs featured James Chun (foreign attorney, Kim & Chang), Inkoo Lee (manager, Secretariat), and Bruno Savoie (foreign attorney, City-Yuwa Partners). Messrs. Lee and Savoie…

According to a 2022 report by a cryptocurrency payment gateway company, since the cryptocurrency boom in 2017, Korea has truly become the “crypto hub of Asia,” powering nearly 30% of all cryptocurrency trades. But the unfortunate reality of these voluminous Korea-powered trades is that related disputes will inevitably arise. It is no secret that many…

The Lone Star v. Korea (Lone Star) Award issued on 30 August 2022 is one of the latest investment awards in tax-related investment treaty disputes and the first one in which a tribunal, inter alia, dealt with the application of an anti-tax avoidance substance over form doctrine (SOFD) under a double taxation treaty (DTT). The…

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in IP cross-border disputes, including in non-traditional sectors. The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (“KCAB”), which is the sole arbitral institution in Korea that is statutorily authorized to settle disputes under the Korean Arbitration Act, has experienced a gradual increase in IP-related cases. This article aims to…

The issue of the governing law of the arbitration agreement was brought into the spotlight with the U.K. Supreme Court decision in Enka v. Chubb (discussed on the Blog here and here), and it became a hotly debated topic following the conflicting decisions from French and English courts on Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v. Kout Food…

East and Central Asia made further strides to promote arbitration, including through legislative reforms and enhancement of judicial assistance, as well as the accession, ratification, and creation of treaties.  Some domestic courts clarified views on fundamental issues in arbitration.  On the user side, East and Central Asian parties continued to be active as both claimants…

The Seoul ADR Festival (“SAF”) 2022, conducted by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, was held between 7-11 November 2022. The 11th Asia-Pacific ADR Virtual Conference, the flagship conference of SAF 2022, took place on 9-10 November 2022 and was attended by more than 400 participants. It covered a broad range of topics over four sessions….

The Third Annual Yonsei Arbitration Day (YAD) was held virtually on 26 August 2022. With the war raging in Ukraine, “War and Arbitration” was the event’s main topic, and the keynote speaker and headline session dealt with the present and future of international arbitration regarding armed conflicts. More than 140 participants from at least 24…

Introduction Until recently, there was no definitive Korean court decision on whether a foreign award that includes an award of exemplary (or punitive) damages should be recognized and enforced (1) in its entirety or (2) only partially (i.e. without the award of exemplary damages).1)Wonsik Yoon, Rieu Kim and Hyukjun Jung, “Recognition and Enforcement of the…

Under Article V(2)(b) of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1958) (the New York Convention, “NYC”), a court may refuse to recognize or enforce a foreign award if “recognition or enforcement of the award is contrary to the public policy of that country.” The NYC does not define the term…

Professor Hi-Taek Shin is the Chairman of KCAB INTERNATIONAL, which is the international division of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (“KCAB”), Korea’s sole commercial arbitral institution. In addition to his duties as Chairman of KCAB INTERNATIONAL, he sits regularly as an arbitrator affiliated with Twenty Essex, both in international commercial arbitrations and investment treaty arbitrations….

In the first week of November 2021, Seoul, once again, connected leading ADR practitioners, legal professionals, and scholars from different corners of the world through the Seoul ADR Festival 2021 (“SAF”). The SAF’s main flagship event was the 10th Asia-Pacific ADR Virtual Conference. Co-hosted by the UNCITRAL, Korea’s Ministry of Justice, KCAB INTERNATIONAL, the International…

This post examines the distinctive features and positive aspects of the maritime arbitration infrastructure of Singapore and South Korea while also exploring areas in which there is room for improvement in order to make these regional centers attractive to a wider international audience.1)Inni In Young Choi of Shin & Kim also contributed to this post. …

In the past year, there has been a paradigm shift from a norm of in-person hearings to a norm of virtual hearings. As part of the 10th Hong Kong Arbitration Week, KCAB INTERNATIONAL and the Korean Council for International Arbitration (KOCIA) invited arbitration practitioners, mostly based in the dynamic Korean arbitration market, to share their…

In a class action lawsuit, a plaintiff or group of plaintiffs bring claims on behalf of similarly situated individuals. The legislatures in some civil law countries including Korea, have recently proposed or implemented measures allowing or expanding the use of class actions in their court systems. Considering that Korea currently does not have in place…

As countries continue to grapple with the ongoing effects of COVID-19, the effects of the ongoing waves on parties vary widely. There have been recent discussions on force majeure and international arbitration on the Blog: see here, here, and here. This article will address the following points in relation to four key jurisdictions, being the…

The allocation of pre-award interest is a standard feature of most international arbitration proceedings and is often contested before a tribunal. The complexity is accentuated when a tribunal is unable to render a timely award for procedural reasons beyond its own control and beyond the parties’ control. The delay caused by the rescheduling of evidentiary…

1. Complex Multi-faceted Tensions between Japan and Korea A media and geopolitical storm recently erupted after Japan introduced measures affecting exports to the Republic of Korea (Korea). Thunder sounded with Japan’s imposition of certification requirements on three chemicals needed by South Korean companies to make semiconductors, memory chips and displays for consumer electronics (the 4…

Our previous posting set out the background to the current trade tension between Korea and Japan. It outlined the possibility of Japan bringing claims under a 1965 Treaty that purported to settle claims resulting from Japan’s colonisation of Korea, or under two investment treaties, regarding Korean courts recently ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to…