Case Analysis / Legal Updates

In a case concerning technology leakage, the court held that the technologies for manufacturing glass frit for solar cell electrodes and paste for OLED sealing fall within the scope of the “advanced technologies” notified under Article 5 of the Industrial Development Act, and accordingly determined that there is a strong likelihood that they constitute “industrial technology” under the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology. (Supreme Court, Decision of September 25, 2025, 2022 Do 7718)

In connection with the Foreign Trade Act, the Constitutional Court determined, in a case where an exporting company had exported goods that could potentially be diverted to weapons of mass destruction without obtaining “situational permission,” that the provisions subject to review were not in violation of the Constitution. (Constitutional Court, Decision of September 25, 2025, 2025 Heonga 8)

This is a case in which the Constitutional Court's determination was sought through a constitutional complaint as to whether the reorganization of the Private Rental Housing Act infringed the fundamental rights of rental business operators. (Constitutional Court, Decision of September 25, 2025, 2020 Heonma 1404)

This case under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act presented the issue of whether, where a disposition registering the establishment of a new pharmacy may infringe upon the dispensing opportunities of a nearby existing pharmacy, the existing pharmacy may contest that disposition as a plaintiff in a revocation lawsuit. (Supreme Court, Decision of September 11, 2025, 2024 Du 34276)

This is a claim litigation case in which the issue was whether the requirements for a bad debt tax deduction under the Value-Added Tax Act were met in a situation where a construction company had been unable to collect a large construction payment from the developer and the claim had fallen into an irrecoverable state. (Supreme Court, Judgment of September 11, 2025, 2024 Du 60435)

This is a case in which the issue was whether, through a claim for judicial acknowledgment of paternity, a child born out of wedlock could claim past support from the biological father after reaching the age of majority. (Supreme Court, Judgment of September 11, 2025, 2023 Meu 11758)

This is a review of a decision in which the issue was how, in a lawsuit against the spouse's affair partner (a Korean civil claim for consolation money against a spouse's affair partner, with no common-law equivalent), liability may be apportioned between the spouse who caused the breakdown of the marriage and that affair partner. (Supreme Court, Decision of September 11, 2025, 2024 Meu 14938)

The registration and license tax is a local tax imposed when a company or an individual registers or records a change in rights. The issue in this judgment was whether a taxable object arises in the case of a debt-to-equity conversion and new shares that were immediately retired. (Supreme Court, Decision of September 4, 2025, 2025 Du 33456)

This case concerned whether the crime of fraud was established when additional allowances were omitted from the rehabilitation plan and the monthly reports during the course of rehabilitation proceedings. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's determination and held that the crime of fraud was difficult to recognize.

This was a case in which whether the material constituted child sexual exploitation material was at issue. The Supreme Court held that an image synthesizing a nude photograph onto the face of a child or youth is difficult to regard as 'child or youth sexual exploitation material.' (Supreme Court, Decision of August 14, 2025, 2024 Do 17801)

This case concerned whether a request for materials made after the customs investigation period constituted a procedural violation. The Supreme Court held that it did not. (Supreme Court, Judgment of April 24, 2025, 2022 Du 45647)

This is a decision in which the Constitutional Court held that a statute reducing gift tax only where a child who received shares for the purpose of business succession takes office as the representative director of the family business company within a fixed period does not violate the Constitution. (Constitutional Court, 2020 Heonba 557)