Domestic agent in Korea
We act as the legally required Korean agent for foreign apps, games, AI services and online stores. Korean regulators reach you through us: your team gets the brief in English, and nothing goes back without your approval. Users who cannot reach your support have a Korean contact too.
Example — illustration, not a real case
10+
global app and game companies use us as their Korean agent
27
regulator matters handled in the past 12 months. Every deadline met, zero sanctions
2 business hours
to a translated first alert on any regulator request. On Complete, context from the regulator within one business day
Founder’s regulator experience: Fair Trade Commission and GRAC (Google Play; 10 years at Google); PIPC and Financial Supervisory Service (SaaS startup). Run by BoostHub in Seoul, the team behind TheGameAgent.
RobTop Games1Soft Outsourced government affairs
No Korean office, or no one in Korea for regulators? We act as your government affairs team in Korea, for one flat annual fee. Your lawyers stay on legal opinions and disputes.
| Handling it from HQ | Asking a law firm |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can be your designated agent | No. You still need an agent in Korea | Only if the firm agrees to be designated | Yes. We are the designated agent |
| Who reads the regulator’s letter | Someone at HQ, through a translation tool | A lawyer, if the firm works in Korean | A Seoul specialist who owns your case |
| How fast you hear | When someone notices the email | Depends on the firm’s caseload | Translated alert within 2 business hours; context within 1 business day on Complete |
| What the regulator really wants | Only what the letter says | Legal analysis of the letter | Context from a call with the officer (Complete) |
| Cost | Staff time, and the risk of a missed deadline | Usually billed by the hour | One flat annual fee, routine requests included |
| Record | Scattered across inboxes | In the firm’s files | A case log you can read and export |
The KoreaAgent Standard
| The risk | Our commitment |
|---|---|
| A regulator letter is missed or misread | Every contact logged the same day. Each call, email or letter gets a case number. Regulator requests reach the person you named as a translated alert within two business hours; on Complete, with context from the regulator within one business day. |
| Something goes out you did not approve | Regulators hear from us only with your approval. Every reply to a regulator goes out once you have approved it; a reply to our email is enough. Users receive answers in wording you have agreed in advance. |
| A small question becomes a formal case | Every deadline tracked to the end. We confirm with the regulator when a matter is closed. On Complete, we call the officer first and shape your reply. |
| Your agent’s mistakes count as yours | Everything on the record. Under every Korean agent law, the agent’s breach is the company’s own. You can read the full log and export it at any time. |
| Korean rules keep changing | Changes flagged as they happen. When a rule that applies to you changes, you hear from us, on both plans. |
| You must prove you supervised your agent | Supervision you can show. You can see every case in your log at any time. Once a year we add the review report and training records PIPA asks for. |
We publish our results against these commitments every year. How a regulator request is handled
Do you need one?
Six Korean laws ask companies with no office in Korea to name a local agent once they pass a threshold. Each law has its own test, and one designation does not cover the others.
KRW 1 trillion+ revenue (about USD 700 million), personal data of 1 million+ people in Korea, or a PIPC decision after it asks you for materials.
Full test and fines → In forceKRW 1 trillion+ total revenue, KRW 10 billion+ (about USD 7 million) from online services, or a KMCC request after a serious incident.
Full test and fines → In forceOne game averaging 1,000+ installs a day in Korea is enough — the lowest bar of the six.
Full test and fines → In forceKRW 10 billion+ (about USD 7 million) from AI services, 1 million+ daily users in Korea, or KRW 1 trillion+ total revenue.
Full test and fines → In forceBoth 1 million+ daily users in Korea and 1%+ of the country’s internet traffic — in practice, the largest platforms.
Full test and fines → From Jan 2027From January 2027: 1 million+ monthly visitors from Korea to your store, KRW 1 trillion+ revenue, or an FTC order.
Full test and fines →Tests are measured on your own prior-year numbers. Not sure where you sit? Send us your Korean user and revenue figures and we show you where they fall against each threshold — your counsel makes the call.
Summarized from the current statutes and enforcement decrees on law.go.kr. USD figures are rough conversions. Not a determination that any law applies to your company. Last reviewed: .
How it works
With regulators, we speak only once you have approved. With users, we answer in words you have already agreed.
Set-up
We send the designation letter and the exact wording for your privacy policy, terms or website, and prepare any filing the law requires.
Your part: Sign, and publish the wording.
When a user cannot get an answer
Your support team still answers users first. When a user cannot get an answer and contacts the agent listed on your pages, we reply in wording you agreed or pass it to your team in English, logged and followed up.
Your part: Agree the wording once. Resolve what we pass on.
When a regulator writes
A translated alert with the deadline lands in your inbox within two business hours. Ask questions or approve by replying, or we set up a call. We file in Korean once you approve. On Complete, you also get the regulator’s context within one business day and a reply both sides can accept.
Your part: Decide, and approve what we file.
Always on
Rule changes that affect you are flagged as they happen. Your case log is open to you at any time, and a yearly review covers what PIPA requires.
Your part: Read the alerts and the review.
The translated first alert your decision-maker gets within two business hours.
Every call to your Korean number, written up the same day.
Summary User could not find the delete option in the app. Sent the approved steps and the privacy contact by email. User satisfied; no follow-up expected.
One place for every case, open or closed.
| Case | From | Status |
|---|---|---|
| KA-0412 | Regulator | Due Fri |
| KA-0409 | User | Closed |
| KA-0401 | Regulator | Closed · confirmed |
| KA-0388 | Mediation body | Closed |
Volumes, service levels met, and what is still open.
Screens above are examples with made-up data. Every message to a user or regulator is written or approved by a person.
Plans
One flat annual fee. No surprise charges.
Routine regulator requests and user complaints are included. No hourly billing, no per-request fees, no credits that run out, and adding another Korean law does not change the price.
Every duty Korean law requires of your agent.
For companies that must appoint an agent and hear from regulators rarely.
Core, plus we work the regulator side with you.
For companies with a large Korean user base or frequent regulator contact.
Both plans perform every statutory duty in full. Complete adds regulatory response support beyond what the law requires. How pricing works and everything in each plan.
FAQ
Only if your company passes a test in one of the Korean laws that require one, and each law has its own test. Most tests use revenue (KRW 1 trillion overall, or KRW 10 billion from the relevant service) or Korean users (1 million or more); for games, one title averaging 1,000 installs a day is enough. Some laws also apply once a regulator formally asks you for materials. Tests use your own prior-year numbers, and your counsel makes the final call. See the tests law by law
It is your official point of contact in Korea. Regulators and users reach your company through the agent, and the agent receives their requests, passes them to you, and carries out the filings and tasks each law assigns, such as probability disclosure under the Game Industry Promotion Act. It does not give legal opinions.
Yes. Both describe the same role, 국내대리인 in Korean law: the person or company named to receive regulator requests and user contacts for a foreign business. "Domestic agent" is the literal translation; "domestic representative" and "local representative" are also common.
Up to six: PIPA, the Network Act, the Game Industry Promotion Act, the AI Basic Act, the Telecommunications Business Act and, from 21 January 2027, the E-Commerce Act. Each law needs its own designation and publishes the agent in a different place, but one agent can hold all of them. With us, one team and one record cover every law that applies. Compare the six laws
A fine of up to KRW 20 million under five of the laws, and up to KRW 30 million under the AI Basic Act. Regulators can also keep writing to you directly, in Korean, with deadlines that run whether or not anyone at HQ has read the letter. Fines law by law
Usually not. PIPA, the Network Act and the Game Industry Promotion Act have no filing step: the public record is your privacy policy, website or terms. The AI Basic Act requires the appointment to be filed with the Ministry of Science and ICT, and from 2027 the E-Commerce Act requires the agent’s details to be sent to the Fair Trade Commission.
Under PIPA and the Telecommunications Business Act, and under the E-Commerce Act from 2027, a Korean entity you set up or control must be chosen first. If you have one, it stays the agent, and we can run the phone line, inbox, regulator correspondence and records behind it.
Email the letter to us. We tell you in English what it asks for and by when, and how quickly we can be in place as your agent. If it calls for a legal position, we say so, and your counsel, or a Korean law firm we introduce you to, can take that part.
No. Every alert, brief and draft comes to the people you name by email, and you reply in the same thread to ask questions or approve. We set up a call whenever a matter needs one, in English or Chinese. The case log is there if you want to look something up or export it, not a place you have to check. See a regulator request, step by step
One flat annual fee per company, set by how exposed you are in Korea: the size of your Korean user base, your category and how often regulators get in touch. The number of laws we cover and the number of requests do not change it. We quote within 24 hours. How pricing works
We read your current contract and notice period, set our start date to the day the old agent stops, draft the termination notice for you to send, collect any open matters, and give you replacement wording for each page. There is no switching fee. Switching, step by step
Where we handle your users’ personal data, we sign a data processing agreement with you and appear as a processor in your privacy policy. Records stay in our case system and go to you in full if you leave.
Tell us your service, roughly how many people in Korea use it, and whether you have a Korean entity. If a regulator has already written to you, attach the letter. We reply within 24 hours with a scope and a fixed annual quote.
Email contact@koreaagent.com Book a 30-minute call