Corporate Compliance

Corporate Compliance

Korea's Export Control Rules for Advanced Technology: A Practical Overview

This is the first post in a broader series on corporate compliance in Korea. Foreign companies and technology firms operating in Korea, increasingly face compliance questions including export control. A company ships a high-performance chip out of Korea without checking whether it needs a permit first. That single oversight

HR & Korean Labor Compliance

Workplace Harassment in Korea, Part 8: Does the Law Even Apply to Your Four-Person Office?

Many foreign-invested companies start small in Korea. A regional sales office. A liaison office that grew into a handful of local hires. A startup's first Korea team. At that size, a common and reasonable question comes up: do all kinds of restrictions under the labor law actually

HR & Korean Labor Compliance

Workplace Harassment in Korea, Part 7: "Disadvantageous Treatment"

This is Part 7 of our series on workplace harassment under Korean labor law. Part 1 covered the basic legal definition. Part 2 covered the employer's investigation duty. Part 3 covered protecting the affected employee during the investigation and introduced the prohibition on disadvantageous treatment. Part 4 covered

HR & Korean Labor Compliance

Workplace Harassment in Korea, Part 6: When the Reporting System Itself Is Abused

An employee files a harassment report against a colleague. Then another. Then five more, over the following months, each one thin on specifics. This is where a legitimate reporting system could be used for unintended purposes. This is Part 6 of our series on workplace harassment under Korean labor law.

HR & Korean Labor Compliance

When Do You Need an Employee Representative in Korea, and How Do You Select One?

Many foreign-invested companies in Korea assume "employee representative" is a fixed role or a formality. It is not that simple. Korean labor law creates this role for specific purposes, and it matters whether the person holding it was actually selected the right way. Who Gets to be

HR & Korean Labor Compliance

2026 Supreme Court Ruling on an Accident at Childcare center

A one-year-old wanders alone through a childcare center for twenty-five minutes. No teacher is watching him. He walks into an unlocked kitchen and falls into a pot of hot soup left on the floor. The center's director was charged with a workplace negligence offense for

HR & Korean Labor Compliance

Stopping a Former Employee From Joining a Competitor: Non-Compete Injunctions in Korea

A key employee resigns and moves straight to a competitor. For many employers, the first question is whether they can litigate to stop that move before real damage is done. The answer is yes, through a non-compete injunction, but only under specific conditions. This post gives a short introduction

Corporate Compliance

Taking Documents and Breach of Trust: The Supreme Court Draws a Line

Foreign companies in Korea often assume that any employee who copies internal documents before leaving has committed a crime. That assumption is too broad. On April 24, 2025, the Supreme Court of Korea reversed a conviction in a case that clarifies exactly when removing company data crosses into occupational breach