Strategic Items

The international export control regime is a multilateral international security framework in which major supplier countries voluntarily participate to prevent weapons of mass destruction (WMD), conventional weapons, and dual-use items from reaching countries of concern or terrorist groups.

To obtain an import purpose confirmation, the applicant must complete an application for issuance of an import purpose confirmation and submit it to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or to the head of the relevant administrative agency.

The application must be accompanied by materials that can verify the end user and the intended use, along with any other documents needed to establish the purpose of the import.

Once an application for an import purpose confirmation is received, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or the head of the relevant administrative agency must issue the confirmation within 7 days of the date of application.

If, however, the items in the application require a separate technical review or consultation with a relevant administrative agency, the time spent on that review or consultation does not count toward the 7-day processing period.

The import purpose confirmation, in turn, is valid for one year from the date of issuance.

Even items that do not fall within these categories may require a separate situational license for export if they could be used in, or diverted to, the manufacture, development, use, or storage of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the missiles that deliver them, conventional weapons, or the like.

Where the importer or end user is known to intend to use the items for purposes such as weapons of mass destruction, or where the following circumstances give rise to a reasonable suspicion of that possibility, a situational license must be obtained from the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or from the head of the relevant administrative agency.

Criteria That May Call for a Situational License

A party seeking to transit through a domestic port or airport, or to transship within Korea, must first obtain a transit and transshipment license from the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or from the head of the relevant administrative agency.

In other words, even where the items are neither produced nor exported in Korea, a licensing procedure is required if their transit or transshipment through Korea could affect national security or an international export control regime.

A party seeking to broker an export from one third country to another must also obtain a brokering license from the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or from the head of the relevant administrative agency.

This brokering license is not required, however, where defense materiel or defense science and technology for which the Administrator of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration has granted approval qualifies as a strategic item or the like.

A party seeking to export or to file an export customs declaration must submit the relevant documents to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or to the head of the relevant administrative agency.

An application for an export license or a situational license generally calls for the following documents.

A party seeking to transit through a domestic port or airport, or to transship within Korea, must apply to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or to the head of the relevant administrative agency for a transit and transshipment license.

The license application calls for the following documents.

A party seeking to broker an export from one third country to another must apply to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or to the head of the relevant administrative agency for a brokering license.

The license application calls for the following documents.

When an application for an export license, situational license, transit and transshipment license, or brokering license is received, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or the head of the relevant administrative agency may decide whether to grant the license after weighing the following criteria as a whole.

In certain cases, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or the head of the relevant administrative agency may exempt an export license, situational license, or brokering license, and even after a license has been granted, it may be revoked if a statutory ground arises.

First, an export license or situational license may be exempted in the following cases

A brokering license may also be exempted in the following cases

After granting an export license, situational license, transit and transshipment license, or brokering license, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy or the head of the relevant administrative agency may revoke it if any of the following grounds arises

A party that commits any of the following violations may have all or part of its imports of goods restricted for a set period within a range of up to three years.

When a violation involving strategic items is confirmed, the relevant administrative agency reports the matter to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and import restrictions on strategic items may follow on that basis.

The parties subject to import restrictions and the scope of those restrictions may also be publicly announced. Where a foreign government has restricted imports under its own laws, the corresponding list and restriction details may be announced as well.

Any of the following violations may result in restrictions, in whole or in part, on the export, import, transit, transshipment, or brokerage of strategic items for a period of up to three years.

Committing any of the following violations for the purpose of international proliferation may result in imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to five times the price of the goods concerned.