International Jurisdiction to Adjudicate under the Korean Private International Law : Analysis of Recent Leading Cases of the Supreme Court of Korea

The first draft of this article was presented at the 1st Joint Symposium between Seoul National University and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (University of Munich) on Current Developments in International Economic Law held in Seoul, Korea from September 21 to 22, 2011. ; This article aims to explain the principles on international jurisdiction to adjudicate under the Korean private international law, by way of analyzing the recent leading cases published in the Gazette of the Supreme Court of Korea: the Hewlett Packard Co. case (Docket No. 2002Da59788 delivered on January 27, 2005) and the Air China Ltd. case (Docket No. 2010Da18355 delivered on October 15, 2010). The two cases have presented specific criteria and directions to interpret the Article 2 of the Korean private international law amended in 2001. Along with the purpose, this article also gives an explanation on the so-called four-step-formula adopted by the Supreme Court of Korea as well as the legislative situation and scholarly theories before the amendment of the Korean private international law. This article afterwards elaborates the facts and the argumentations of the each party of the above mentioned cases meticulously. The Article 2 of the Korean private international law set forth the principle of substantial relationship and the doctrine of reasonableness (consideration of interests) in deciding international jurisdiction. The Article 2 also declares that detailed rules on international jurisdiction should be developed by consulting the venue provisions of domestic laws. The Hewlett Packard Co. case and the Air China Ltd. case reaffirmed and specified the general principles: The determination of the international jurisdiction should follow the basic idea of aiming to achieve impartiality between the parties, and appropriateness, speediness and economy of litigation, and should take into account not only private interests such as impartiality between the parties, and convenience and predictability of the parties, but also the ...