Korean Commercial Arbitration Board

On March 22, 1966, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) was established as the only authorized institution of arbitration in Korea. Initially, KCAB was attached to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and went by the name of the International Commercial Arbitration Commission until it was renamed as KCAB in 1980.

KCAB is organized into one main office in Seoul and one branch office in Busan. The main office is composed of the following three departments: General Affairs, Arbitration and Mediation & Consultation. Also, the Arbitration Department consists of the Construction Arbitration team, International Trade & Maritime Arbitration team and General Arbitration team.

Functions / Activities / Services

KCAB is dedicated to the prevention and settlement of commercial disputes. KCAB is neutral, unbiased and independent in order to administer and conduct arbitration, conciliation and mediation.

In summary, arbitration is an alternative way of producing impartial and fair resolutions to commercial disputes. But unlike litigation, parties select their own place of arbitration, their own arbitrators and their own arbitration procedures.

Another popular and very effective resolution procedure is mediation. It is an entirely voluntary, risk-free process in which a neutral staff member of KCAB helps the parties in dispute to negotiate their own settlement. The mediator will be unbiased and will not judge either party, while encouraging open communication, helping to identify the specific areas of dispute and agreement, and working toward bringing the parties to a negotiated settlement specified and reached by the parties themselves.

Conciliation is not a decision that is made by an arbitrator or a judicial officer in any arbitration or lawsuit but a recommendation for resolution of a dispute to the parties concerned. Therefore, whether to accept it or not depends on the free choice of those parties. At present, KCAB is carrying out conciliation services under the Arbitration Rules and the Foreign Trade Act.

In addition to the three resolution systems offered by KCAB mentioned above, KCAB also provides consultation and publication services. Furthermore, KCAB is engaged in international cooperation with international arbitral organizations throughout the world and has signed arbitration agreements with 24 nations and cooperative accords with 24 foreign arbitration groups including the AAA and the ICC Court of Arbitration. Furthermore, KCAB participates in international conferences organized by the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions, International Council for Commercial Arbitration and UNCITRAL. In October 1996, KCAB hosted the 12th ICCA Conference in Seoul.

Contact Details

Website

www.kcab.or.kr