• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.69-87
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• 2023

This study recognizes that consumers are becoming important as a subject of commerce as they change from the existing e-commerce market to the consumer-led e-commerce market, and proposes the use of consumer intervention as a remedy for consumer damage in international e-commerce disputes. In Korea, there is no separate regulation on consumer arbitration, so we will analyze the U.S. arbitration judgment, which is the most active in consumer arbitration, and examine it through the U.S. arbitration judgment so that arbitration can become active as a remedy for consumer disputes in Korea. In summary, in the event of a dispute between consumers and companies through e-commerce, consumers' preference for arbitration was confirmed through repeated collection of opinions without coercion. It is necessary to revitalize arbitration in Korea to protect consumers through arbitration rather than litigation and to resolve disputes through active alternative dispute resolution as a solution to disputes in e-commerce, which is rapidly increasing through U.S. consumer arbitration cases. The topic of the activation of arbitration has been mentioned a lot before, but the preference for arbitration is still lower than that of litigation. However, from now on, as the appearance of existing commerce has changed to consumer-led e-commerce, it has proposed a plan to use arbitration to rescue consumers from damage as consumers as buyers grow in the market.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.3-26
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• 2024

The insolvency proceedings, which are collective debt processing procedures that equitably distribute properties of the debtor who is declared insolvency to multiple creditors, and the arbitral proceedings that resolve disputes over individual legal relationships between the parties differ in nature. However, there are no express provisions that directly regulate the legal relationships when the party to an arbitration agreement is declared insolvency. The presence of an arbitration agreement between the parties does not necessarily initiate the arbitral proceedings, the arbitral proceedings are initiated by the parties' application under the arbitration agreement. It is also necessary to examine the effect of the insolvency of the party to the arbitration agreement on the arbitral proceedings step by step. This paper reviews the cases in which the parties to the arbitration agreement have been declared insolvency before the commencement of the arbitral proceedings and have been declared insolvency during the arbitral proceedings. This paper examines how the effect of the arbitration agreement affects the insolvency proceedings when the debtor is declared insolvency after concluding the arbitration agreement and how the declaration of insolvency affects the arbitral proceedings when the debtor, who is a party to the arbitration agreement, is declared insolvency during the arbitration proceedings.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.27-44
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• 2024

The lack of consistency and predictability of arbitral awards in the Investor-State Dispute Settlement ("ISDS") mechanism has long been a subject of criticism. In international investment disputes, arbitral tribunals have frequently come up with different interpretations and results on similar investment agreement provisions. The arbitral tribunal's inconsistent decisions raised concerns not only among the parties to the investment dispute but also amongthe arbitral tribunals in other cases, which ultimately led to legal inconsistencies in international investment law. Arbitration awards may have some degree of disagreement in interpretation. However, the systemic inconsistencies that pervade ISDS risk undermining the purpose of the investment agreement system, which is to provide a predictable and stable framework to protect andpromote foreign investment while maintaining a balance with host state regulations. Therefore, this study proposes a plan to resolve this discrepancy and review standards for practical application. Reform of the ISDS mechanism could be a viable option to reduce, to some extent, the inconsistencies in interpretation, if not completely eliminate them. Reforms such as establishingguidelines, promoting cooperation between arbitral tribunals, and codifying the norms of the agreement can provide a means of reducing interpretive inconsistencies and strengthening the legitimacy of the ISDS mechanism. Reforming the ISDS mechanism will require all stakeholders to carefully consider the issues and the scope, nature, and feasibility of eachpotential reform.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.45-64
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• 2024

In international transactions, a demand guarantee is commonly used as a so-called independent bank guarantee to protect against the other party's default under, or breach of, contract). However, there is a risk that the independence and the documentary character of the demand guarantee may be abused by the beneficiary of the guarantee, who may fall into the temptation to demand or call for payment under the guarantee by preparing documents that appear to constitute a complying demand for payment, even though the demand has no conceivable basis. In Korea, through case law, a legal rule has been developed to prevent such abusive calls for payment. This paper examines how such rule that prohibits abuse of rights is applying in the context of counter-guarantees. To this end, this paper first considers the concepts of a demand guarantee and a counter-guarantee and the basic legal principles applicable thereto. And then this paper considers abusive calls under the guarantees, that exceptionally works as grounds for refusal of payment by guarantors and counter-guarantors, further looking at some situations in which the calls amount to be abusive under counter-guarantees in particular.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.161-182
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors of conflict formation, conflict resolution type, and relationship performance between convenience store franchise headquarters and franchise stores operated by the franchise system located in the metropolitan area. The conclusion could be summarized as follows. First, according to factor analysis based on the previous research, the factor of conflict between convenience store headquarters and franchisee was tied to three factors such as goal disagreement, doctrinal discrepancy, and interdependence, whereas conflict resolution type was linked to three factors such as cooperation type, attack type, and avoidance type. Finally, the relationship performance is tied to three factors: financial performance, long-term cooperation, and non-financial performance. Second, as a result of Hypothesis 1, the interdependence was positively correlated when the cooperative type was the dependent variable. The target discrepancy was significantly positive(+) when the aggressive type was the dependent variable. The interdependence was significantly negative(-) when the avoidance type was the dependent variable. There also was a significantly positive(+) relationship in the target disagreement. Third, for Hypothesis 2, it is shown that target inconsistency is negative(-) for all cases where financial performance, long-term cooperation, and non-financial performance are dependent variables. Fourth, for Hypothesis 3, when the financial performance is the dependent variable, only the cooperative type shows a positive(+) relationship. On the other hand, when the long-term cooperation and the non-financial aptitude are the dependent variables, the cooperative type has a significant positive(+) relationship.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.3-35
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• 2017

For recent years, several disputes between Korean consumers and multinational companies have arisen. Since the disputes were big and material that children's safety was at issue, a question started if Korean law properly has protected consumers' rights against multinational companies. While the Korean legal society tried to legislate punitive compensation with this concern, the U.S. Supreme Court reached an interesting case law regarding consumer contracts. A recent trend on consumer contracts in the United States shows that general terms have arbitration clause with class action waiver. As much as international arbitration has worked as the most effective resolution in international commercial disputes, the concept is still foreign and the experts are not approachable to lay individual consumers. However, class action in arbitration can hugely help for lay individual consumers to bring a case before arbitration tribunal. California courts consistently showed the analysis that the practical impact of prohibiting class action in arbitration clause is to ban lay individual consumers from fighting for their rights. However, the Supreme Court held that the arbitration clause shall be enforced as parties agree even if consumers practically cannot fight for their rights in the end. Even though consumer contracts are a typical example of lack of parity and of adhesive contract, the Supreme Court still applies liberalism that parties are equal in power and free to agree. This case law has a crucial implication since Korean consumers buy goods and services from the U.S. and other countries in everyday life. Accordingly, they are deemed to agree on the dispute resolution clauses, which might violate their constitutional right to bring their cases before the adjudication tribunal. This issue could be more important than adopting punitive compensation because consumers' rights are not necessarily governed by Korean law but by the governing law of the general terms and conditions chosen and written by the multinational companies. Thus this paper studies and analyzes the practical reality of international arbitration and influence of arbitration clause with class action waiver with the U.S. Supreme Court and California case laws.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.183-203
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• 2017

Two solution approaches have been suggested globally to solve the crisis of bill of lading; that is to say, electronic bill of lading and sea waybill. Electronic bill of lading is not unsettled as a solution to solve the crisis of bill of lading but sea waybill is used on a global basis to do so. The surrendered bill of lading is applied for practical usage instead of sea waybill in a short voyage among Korea, China, and Japan, owing to faster delivery at destination and lower cost than bill of lading. To surrender the original bill of lading, the consignor should submit all originals with a request letter to the carrier of goods with necessary surrender charges, if any, in doing so. Once after receiving the original bills of lading consisting of normally three originals but in some cases five, the carrier stamped "Surrendered" on the front of original bills of lading and sent a message to his counterpart at the port of destination, stating that the original bill of lading surrendered at the port of shipment and the consignee can take delivery of the goods without production of the original bill of lading at destination. The legal regime of the surrendered bill of lading is not settled as it is not considered legally as bill of lading, and the decisions rendered by each nation's courts are different according to the usages of the surrendered bill of lading. The purpose of this paper is to prevent the disputes between parties with regard to the surrendered bill of lading by studying the causes and precautions of disputes in relation to the surrendered bill of lading.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.85-106
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• 2017

This article deals with the relationship between arbitration and state court in each procedural stage. As most legal systems over the world respect arbitration agreement, the relationship between arbitration and state courts puts emphasis on party autonomy and provides the independent power of arbitration agreement tribunal (Kompetenz-Kompetenz). Most institutional arbitration rules the arbitral tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction. Modern national laws have similar provisions based on Art. 16 UNCITRAL Model Law. In this regards the author throws a question in Chapter II, whether the doctrine of Kompetenz-Kompetenz, namely the ability of the tribunal to decide upon its own jurisdiction is worth while persisting, and whether the Kompetenz-Kompetenz-agreement should be regarded as valid, with the conclusion, that this doctrine should concede to the power of state court and that Kompetenz-Kompetenz-Klausel is invalid. In Chapter III the author discusses the issue of whether the breach of an arbitration agreement could lead to the compensation of damage. Although the author stands for the procedural character of arbitration agreement, he offers a proposal that the breach of an arbitration agreement bring about the compensation of damage. The issue of anti-suit injunction is discussed also in this Chapter. He is against the approval of anti-suit injunction based on an arbitration agreement resisting the other party from pursuing a lawsuit in a foreign country.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.121-144
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• 2020

If the interim disposition of the Arbitration Tribunal is not immediately enforceable, it will only give pressure to the other party concerned and the arbitration could work against him if the other party fails to implement it. If enforcement is impossible, the disposition will have no practical effect or practical benefit. In addition, if a system is contrary to its unique characteristics or nature, it will not function as a system or it will become an unnecessary decoration. There is no room for argument that the above provisions are wrong or misinterpreted if the temporary disposition in arbitration cannot be characterized by its characteristics, such as its provisionality, urgency, incidentality, or invasibility. As attracting international arbitration cases can create enormous added value for the national economy, countries are scrambling to create a mediating-friendly legal environment in their countries, and Korea has been more active in arbitration than in the past. Despite various efforts, however, attracting international arbitration cases is still a long way off. Therefore, Korea should create a mediating-friendly, legal environment to attract arbitration cases. There are many reasons why arbitration is activated internationally, but the most important of them is that it is easier to approve and execute. The use of the approval and execution of heavy court is, in turn, the most important requirement of a mediating-friendly environment. It is natural that temporary dispositions made in arbitration should be as easy to approve and enforce as in the case of arbitration. In addition, it is natural for the parties to consider the use of approval and execution when deciding where to mediate or when applying for arbitration; thus, the degree of ease of execution, along with the procedural use of arbitration or provisional disposition, will be a measure of the likelihood of hosting international arbitration cases, as well as the activation of arbitration.

• 한국중재학회지:중재연구
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.69-90
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• 2020

The arbitration system has many advantages, including resilience, speed, ease of approval, and enforcement of foreign arbitration in international disputes, and it plays an important role in today's international business. As the world's economic activities increase, China's trade disputes are intensifying. In 2017, China emphasized the international cooperation and commercial expansion of foreign investment at "One Belt, One Road." Therefore, it is expected that international business will become more active, with the issue of how to recognize and enforce the foreign arbitration awards in China becoming highly important. In addition, South Korea and China maintained deep trade relations after establishing diplomatic relations in 1992 and concluding the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement, which will inevitably increase trade disputes. As far as South Korea is concerned, China is South Korea's largest trading partner, so it is important for South Korea to analyze how foreign arbitration awards are recognized and enforced in China. China's accession to the New York Convention in 1987 was the beginning of the enforcement of foreign arbitrators. However, since China has begun to recognize and enforce foreign arbitrators relatively late, there are many problems in terms of recognizing and enforcing foreign arbitral awards in China. This study introduces the concept and scope of foreign arbitral awards, as well as the legal basis and procedures for recognizing and enforcing foreign arbitral awards, and examines relevant cases and the denial of recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitration award. In the end, some issues and remedies for the recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral awards system in China were concluded.