Case Analysis · Recent Decade
Selected Korean Supreme Court decisions of the last decade on insolvency law, reread from the perspective of a practicing attorney. Each note covers the facts in summary, the core issues, the Court's holding, and what the decision means for everyday practice. Statutory English terms follow elaw.klri.re.kr.
Notes
When a creditor was unaware of the proceeding and failed to file, and the custodian could have ascertained the claim but omitted it from the creditor list — the discharge effect of plan confirmation does not extend to that claim.
A monetary restitution claim arising from rescission of a fraudulent conveyance, where the beneficiary has entered rehabilitation, is a public interest claim under Article 179(1)(6) of the DRBA.
The Supreme Court's calibration of how the confirmed entries on the rehabilitation claimant list operate in post-procedure litigation.
Where a debtor directs a third party to pay a creditor directly, the resulting payment can be avoided under DRBA Article 100 on the substance-over-form principle.
The transition issues arising from the 2018 amendment that reduced the standard repayment period from five years to three.
How courts read the "unavoidable reasons" requirement for amending a confirmed rehabilitation plan.
Determining the reference date and method for valuing collateral, which in turn fixes the bifurcation between secured and unsecured rehabilitation claims.
How the rule that "no creditor should receive less under the plan than in liquidation" operates as the strongest check on plan confirmation.
Classification of unpaid wages and severance under DRBA Article 179, and the protection afforded by the Wage Claim Guarantee Fund.
Balancing the preferred bidder's match right and break-up fee with the genuine bidding opportunity of competitive participants.
The Supreme Court's first articulation of the standards for the "place of effective management" under Article 2(1) of the Corporate Tax Act. (Originally published in Casebook of Korean Tax Cases, 3rd ed., Korean Tax Law Association, Bakyoungsa.)
Each case note has a Korean detail page. English summaries on the listed page provide the essential takeaway. Statutory English terms used here follow the official translations at the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English Law Information (elaw.klri.re.kr) — for example, Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act (DRBA), rehabilitation claim, rehabilitation security right, custodian, preferred-bidder process.
