ㅇ An article written by Foreign Attorney Rieu Kim and Attorney Jung Hyuk Jun was published on Kluwer Arbitration Blog.

ㅇ Regarding a case where Attorney Jung and two others represented the Plaintiff, the Supreme Court of Korea, concerning the issue of whether to approve a foreign court judgment ordering payment of damages exceeding the scope of damages in full or in part, the Supreme Court held that such judgment should be made case by case, by comprehensively considering the basic principles or belief of Korea’s damages system, relationship between the relevant foreign judgment and the related laws of Korea, whether the act that is deemed as grounds for damages by the foreign judgment corresponds a single separate law allowing damages in excess of the scope of damages normally complied with in Korea, and if it does correspond to such single separate law, the scope of difference between the amount of damages recognized by the foreign judgment and the terms provided in the Korean law (i.e., ceiling amount of damages) (Supreme Court of Korea Judgment delivered on March 11, 2022 for Case No. 2018Da231550).

ㅇ In the past, even if a foreign judgment or arbitral award ordered payment of exemplary damages, there were limitations in obtaining approval and for their enforcement. This Supreme Court judgment is meaningful in that it has made it possible for exemplary damages to be approved and enforced in Korea.

Korean Supreme Court’s Recent Recognition of Treble Damages: Implications for the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards (Kluwer Arbitration Blog)