• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.115-133
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• 2022

This article examines the Practical Suggestions for Promoting of Virtual Hearings in International Arbitration. COVID-19 had an prompt and meaningful impact on the practice of international arbitration. Nevertheless arbitral institutions, arbitral tribunals, and other participants learned quickly how to deal with this new challenge. The use of virtual or online hearings has been gaining popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Either with the help of arbitral institutions or by themselves, the parties realized that the only way to safeguard a hearing at all was to run it virtually. In fact, hearings by video conference or other technical means seemed to be the magic solution. One of the leading arbitration institutions, i.e. the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris has amended its Arbitration Rules to accept the subjects of recent international arbitration practice. Other arbitral institutions have similarly amended their respective rules. Many recent and adaptable institutional arbitration rules, either expressly or implicitly, allow for hearings to be conducted remotely. The trend has already been set by the leading institutions as ICC, LCIA, ICSID, SCC SIAC, and many more will follow. In short, enthusiasts of virtual hearings even believe that virtual hearings are "the new normal".

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.3-22
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• 2021

This article examines the Challenge through Annulment of ICSID Arbitral Awards. Either party may request annulment of the award by applying in writing addressed to the ICSID Secretary-General on one or more of the grounds under Article 52 of the ICSID Convention. The annulment proceedings must focus on the award itself. Because committees have no inherent supremacy over the arbitral tribunal, they should not review the tribunal's findings on evidence, damage, interest, and cost findings. Otherwise, the parties would have, in effect, two opportunities, and that will almost certainly weaken the reliability of the entire ICSID system. In short, because of the limited scope of review under ICSID annulment and because annulment is not an opportunity for the parties to re-try the case, committees should not allow new arguments or new evidence. Since an annulment committee is not a court of appeals, it cannot create a new res judicata. Committees can only decide not to annul an award, thus confirming the existing res judicata or annul the award, in which case the affected decision ceases to be res judicata. An obvious annulment decision stipulating which particular findings of the award remain res judicata should prevent any uncertainty in resubmission proceedings.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.301-319
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• 2019

This study is to review the Joseon government's attempt to recover the tariff autonomy lost in the course of entering into the unequal treaty with then-Japan government, as well as the practical effort to realize such an attempt. Among other attempts, the Joseon government ① began imposing tariffs starting September 1878 by establishing Dumopo Customs Office in Busan, ② dispatched on April 1881 a group of investigators to the competent authorities to review and look back the Joseon's tariff system against Japan and ③ entered into a tariff negotiation with then-Japan government on September 1881 with the emissary (Susinsa) Byeong-ho Jo representing the Joseon government. A series of these attempts, in line with each other, represents the Joseon government's ceaseless, constant effort to recover the tariff autonomy, which is what this study intends to review from the modern-day perspectives. Authored by Byeong-ho Jo to capture an advantageous position in the 1881's tariff negotiation against then-Japan government, 「Joilseui」 successfully represented the Joseon government's position on matters of ① the Japanese tax-autonomous district in Korea, ② defining tariff rates, ③ use of Japanese Yen for payment of tariffs, ④ effective period of the treaty and ⑤ export restrictions on grains. Failure of the Joseon government's attempt to recover the Tariff autonomy was attributable not only to, as 「Joilseui」 defined, ① governments' non-cooperative attitudes on the negotiation table, ② lack of authorities that the entrusted bodies had, ③ import tariffs defined high and ④ export restrictions on grains and red ginseng, but also to loss of the tariff autonomy in 1876 and the 1881's negotiation broken down that were plotted by then-Japan government's invasive policy.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.213-232
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• 2017

A Bank Payment Obligation is now in operation as payment instruments in the business of Supply Chain Finance since 2013. The BPO is an irrevocable undertaking of the Obligor Bank subject to the successful electronic matching of all required Data Sets with the established Baseline in the TMA. Although the BPO should be regarded as similar to a Letter of Credit, it is a new payment solution based on a technology and data-driven mechanisms. The BPO is different from the letter of credit in their structure such as a bank to bank obligation, an automated matching engine, a transfer and confirmation of the Credit, etc. The BPO can also be used more effectively on a stand-alone solution as an electronic alternative to the traditional instruments. it will provide a new range of solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of the trade customers. However, the BPO could be raised several issues including an assurance of payment between recipient banks and sellers because the BPO is a bank-to-bank obligation. The URBPO do not applies to the relationships between banks and their business clients. So, the primary objective of this paper is to promote the institutional understanding and present the implications by reviewing the majn issues in the BPO as comparision with the Letter of Credit from the institutional point of view. This research was also based on documentary research focusing on the preceding research and the materials of ICC and SWIFT.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.1-25
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• 2018

Bank payment obligations (BPO) have been used since 2013 as a payment solution in the business of supply chain finance. The BPO is an irrevocable undertaking of the obligor bank subject to the successful electronic matching of all required data sets with the established baseline in the TMA. Although the BPO should be regarded as similar to a letter of credit, it is a new payment solution based on advanced technology and data-driven mechanisms. The BPO differs from the credit in institutional terms such as bank-to-bank obligations, automated matching engines, and transfer and confirmation, etc. The BPO can also be used effectively as a stand-alone electronic solution to traditional instruments. it provides a new range of solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of trade customers. However, Operation of the BPO can leads to several issues including an assurance of payment between recipient banks and sellers because the BPO is a bank-to-bank obligation. The URBPO does not apply to relationships between banks and their business clients. So, the primary objective of this paper is to promote institutional understanding and present implications by reviewing major issues concerning the BPO as compared with the letter of credit from the institutional point of view. This research was based on documentary research focusing on the preceding research and the materials of ICC and SWIFT.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.77-96
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• 2017

This paper attempts to analyze the influences of Korean global retailer's service marketing mix on local customers' satisfaction and their loyalty behaviors. Based on a literature review, three hypotheses are putting forward. The data from 139 customers in Weihai, China were used to test these hypotheses. This paper used Structural Equation Modeling to identify the relationship among the service marketing mix, the customer satisfaction and the customer loyalty behaviors. According to the empirical analysis, this study showed satisfactory data-fit of the proposed model and supported two of the three hypotheses. The empirical results indicated that the service marketing mix factors except the promotion factor take significant effect on the local customer satisfaction, and this in turn have influence on the customer loyalty behaviors. The result shows that Korean global retailers will need to leverage service marketing mix strategically when entering China. Practical implications of these findings needs to be considered for the global retailer to establish an effective marketing strategy.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.93-112
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of FTA information learning in export SMEs. Therefore, this study has constructed an integrated model including the moderating effects of FTA information learning on the of export performance in SME. The relationship between SMEs' localization strategy, product innovation capacity, and FTA information learning was linked to export performance, and an empirical analysis was conducted on 195 export SMEs. The path analysis was performed using the structural equation model(SEM), and six hypotheses including the control effect were tested. As a result, the localization strategy of SMEs positively influenced product innovation capacity. On the other hand, FTA information learning did not show significant results. Product innovation capacity and FTA information learning as an antecedents showed significant results in terms of export performance. In the moderated effects analysis, the moderated effect between the localization strategy and FTA information learning did not show significant effect on the product innovation capacity. Whereas the moderated effect between the product innovation capacity and the FTA information learning significant influence on the export performance of SMEs.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.177-197
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• 2018

This paper aims to analyze the effects of external uncertainty on the entry modes decision of multinational firms. On the basic assumption that the entry modes of the firms are dependent on ex-ante or ex-post perceived risk, we empirically analyzed the impacts of perceived risk factors on the investment patterns of firms. We found that the larger the population, the higher the level of GDP per capita, and the larger the trade volume as a ratio of GDP resulted in increased M&A FDI and greenfield FDI. The economic growth rate variables were found to be significantly positive effect on only greenfield entry mode. Regarding the main variables, lower levels of corruption and increased stability regarding political issues resulted in the host country receiving increased M&A investment. However, we found only a positive statistical significance of the political stability variable on the explaining greenfield FDI. Results show that M&A entry mode is affected by both corruption and political instability level. However, the greenfield FDI featuring sunk costs, seems more responsive to political instability.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.139-157
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• 2017

Whether an investor can invoke a dispute settlement procedure stipulated in other BIT based on the MFN clause in the original BIT is an important issue. There is a difference in the interpretation of MFN clause in which the scope of the treatment stipulates the slightly different contents for each investment treaty. Therefore, this study considered ICSID arbitration cases related to the applicability of MFN clause for investment dispute settlement provisions. There are two different approaches for the applicability of MFN clause by arbitral tribunals. At first, the expanded interpretation of the MFN clause can be applied to procedural regulations, in that the purpose of the investment treaty is to protect foreign investors and to ensure their status. So, foreign investors can invoke a BIT of a third country that is advantageous to them. Second, the limited interpretation of the MFN clause can not be applied to procedural regulations. Without explicit regulation, the term treatment can not be considered to include dispute resolution provisions. And the BIT that the host state has concluded with third country is a treaty that applies only to the contracting party, so it can not be used by foreign investors of other nationality. Therefore, this study suggests concretely stipulating the scope of MFN clause under the investment treaty, highlighting that certain restrictions should be applied to the MFN clause. Furthermore, it is required continually investigating and analyzing the database of the scope of MFN clause.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.123-142
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• 2017

This study is to investigate Right to Chinese Name for Foreigners under Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China. The basketball star Michael Jordan sued Qiaodan Sports in 2012, saying the company had built its business around his Chinese name read as Qiaodan in Chinese without his permission. The Chinese supreme court ruled that the trademark for Jordan's Chinese name should be returned to China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce to be re-awarded, and it means Qiaodan Sports Co. must stop using the Chinese characters for Qiaodan on its merchandise. However, the court rejected Jordan's claim to the romanized or pinyin form of the name "Qiaodan," saying in its judgment that this version may not be closely linked with him. People who want to claim the right to Chinese name, he/she must prove the specific name has linked with him/her. Furthermore, he/she must prove the Chinese firm's actions had displayed "malicious intent" by registering trademarks for his/her Chinese name. The courts approve infringement by Chinese firm and stop to use his/her name in the country.