Case Analysis / Legal Updates

A brand acquisition is a significant decision that can shape a company's future.Let us review a guide for securing a legal safety net before a brand acquisition and achieving a successful acquisition.

Changes to the Financial Holding Companies Act are central to fintech collaboration and the creation of synergy within a group. Through the contents of the amendments to the Financial Holding Companies Act, this article reviews companies' new growth drivers and legal response strategies.

The semiconductor industry is regarded as a core asset directly tied to national security. Recent import restriction measures by the U.S. administration have heightened the need for legal responses among companies dealing in semiconductors.

In this case concerning a rights offering to existing shareholders, the issue was whether it was unlawful that, after the controlling shareholder died and an heir acquired the shares through inheritance and requested a transfer of title on the premise of sole ownership, the company refused that request and then held a general meeting of shareholders to appoint a director and resolved on a rights offering to existing shareholders. The Seoul Central District Court determined that the refusal of the transfer of title could not be regarded as improper and that the appointment of the director and the resolution on the rights offering to existing shareholders, made on that premise, likewise could not be regarded as unlawful.

This case relating to corporate investment attraction turned on whether an outsider who substantially participated in a listed company's negotiations for foreign (Chinese) capital investment and the acquisition of management control qualified as an "agent of the listed corporation" under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, and whether that person conveyed material undisclosed information concerning the investment to acquaintances and thereby allowed it to be used in stock trading. The Supreme Court held that an "agent" is not limited to a person holding the power of agency under the Civil Act, and may include a person who in fact performed company affairs upon delegation or entrustment, and it accordingly reversed and remanded the lower court's acquittal. (Supreme Court, Judgment of December 4, 2025, 2021 Do 11654)

This case concerned whether, when a foreign investor additionally acquired existing shares after receiving a decision on the reduction or exemption of taxes, the reduction or exemption also covered the dividends corresponding to those additionally acquired shares. The Supreme Court held that the reduction or exemption decision is a necessary precondition for identifying the foreign investor's ‘substantive contribution,’ and that the reduction or exemption may not be applied to the portion of existing shares additionally acquired without a separate reduction or exemption decision. (Supreme Court, Decision of January 8, 2026, 2022 Du 31112)

Attorneys handling jeonse fraud matters warn that the risk of jeonse fraud may rise ahead of the March new-semester and corporate personnel-transfer season.

In a case concerning registration of ownership transfer litigation, the issue was whether, by the mere fact that a reconstruction association had obtained approval and public notice of a management and disposal plan, the possession of the former sectional owners and their claim for transfer registration based on the completion of acquisitive prescription were also succeeded to. The Supreme Court held that, even if the right to use and profit arises under the Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments, the succession of possession requires a separate examination of the facts, such as delivery and payment of the price. (Supreme Court, Decision of January 8, 2026, 2023 Da 211741, 2023 Da 211758)

This was a claim for return of unjust enrichment in which the central issue was how to assess the private-law validity of a sales contract that violated the restriction on the disposal of industrial sites under the Industrial Cluster Act. The Supreme Court held that the provision is a regulatory (directory) provision rather than a mandatory (validity) provision, and that the contract therefore cannot be deemed automatically void. (Supreme Court, Decision of January 8, 2026, 2025 Da 211003)

The Enforcement Decree of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires that the dismissal of a safety manager or a health manager be reported within 14 days. This guide explains the change-notification procedures that companies often overlook, along with measures for managing the associated risk.

The executive retirement benefit limit goes beyond setting the amount of retirement pay; it is a significant matter that determines the corporate income tax and the executive's tax savings. Please review this guide to setting retirement benefit limits for stable corporate operations.

This case, concerning consolation money in a lawsuit against the adulterous partner (a Korean civil claim for consolation money against a spouse's affair partner, with no common-law equivalent), turned on the question of when the period of extinctive prescription begins to run for a claim for consolation money where a third party's infidelity has broken down the marital relationship and led to divorce. The Supreme Court held that, for a claim for consolation money based on the divorce, the limitation period runs not from the time of each individual act of infidelity but from the time the marriage was dissolved. (Supreme Court, Judgment of January 29, 2026, 2025 Meu 10716)