Ministry of Justice Establishes Dedicated Team for International Investment Disputes Including Lone Star

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Ministry of Justice has established a dedicated organization to handle the arbitration practice of international investment disputes (ISDS) cases.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Justice held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office and announced that it had newly established the International Dispute Response Division under the Legal Affairs Office earlier this month.

The International Dispute Response Division will take over the investor-state dispute (ISD) tasks previously handled by the International Legal Affairs Division. A team of 14 qualified lawyers will be formed to handle practical tasks such as evidence collection, drafting documents, and attending hearings for international investment dispute cases.

In particular, the division plans to direct and supervise law firms representing the government in lawsuits and, depending on the case, represent the government independently without appointing external law firms. The Ministry of Justice explained that this would also achieve cost-saving effects.

Activities to prevent international dispute cases will also be carried out. The division will regularly inspect areas where disputes frequently occur and provide ISD prevention education to government ministries and local governments.

Prior to the establishment of the International Dispute Response Division, the Ministry of Justice formed the International Investment Dispute Response Team in April last year, led by the Legal Affairs Director. Senior officials from related ministries gather to make specific decisions on the direction of international dispute responses.

So far, a total of eight international lawsuits have been filed by foreign investors against the Korean government. Among them, three cases have been concluded, and five are still ongoing. Notably, the lawsuit filed by Lone Star, which acquired Korea Exchange Bank in 2003, has not been concluded for eight years. The Lone Star case completed its hearing in 2016 and declared the end of the procedure, but the presiding arbitrator resigned in March this year, and a new presiding arbitrator has been selected.

Additionally, the case filed by the US-based hedge fund Elliott Management, a shareholder of Samsung C&T, claiming damages due to the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries and filing an 800 billion KRW lawsuit in 2018, is also ongoing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.