We would like to inform you of significant changes to the Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”), effective October 2, 2025, regarding the designation of a domestic agent by foreign businesses.

Pursuant to the amended PIPA, if any of the following entities exist in Korea, a foreign data controller is required to designate a domestic agent from among these entities (Article 31-2(2)), instead of a third-party service provider. Non-compliance may result in an administrative fine of up to KRW 20 million (Article 75, Paragraph (3), Item 3).
 

• A Korean entity established by the foreign data controller.

• A Korean entity over which the foreign data controller exercises control regarding officer composition, business operations, etc., such as:

Foreign data controllers subject to the requirement must change their domestic agent to a domestic entity or newly appoint one by April 2, 2026 (within six months of the amended PIPA’s enforcement, per Article 1 of the Addenda to the amendment). The PIPC has already been notifying foreign data controllers, asking them to change their domestic agent.

However, unlike the amended PIPA and the current Telecommunications Business Act (“TBA”), which require a domestic entity to be designated as a domestic agent, the Act on the Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (“Network Act”) has not been amended similarly. Therefore, foreign businesses subject to the Network Act may still designate a third-party service provider as their domestic agent. However, several proposed amendments to the Network Act, which would require the designation of a domestic entity as the domestic agent, are under review by the National Assembly. Ongoing monitoring of these legislative developments is recommended.

Additionally, legislative changes, which will introduce the domestic agent system, are coming up in the following areas:
 

• Game industry under the Game Industry Promotion Act (“GIPA”), starting on October 23, 2025

• AI industry under the Framework Act on the Development of AI and the Creation of Foundation for Trust (“AI Act”), starting on January 22, 2026
   

Companies should check whether they could become subject to the domestic agent requirement and be prepared for the enforcement of these laws.
 

• Obligation: Any foreign person who distributes or services game, and meeting the criteria set out in the Enforcement Decree of the GIPA, must designate a domestic agent. Failure to designate a domestic agent can subject the foreign person to an administrative fine of up to KRW 20 million (Article 48, Paragraph (1) of the GIPA).

• The proposed amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the GIPA, announced in July 2025, states that (i) a person whose revenue in the previous year is at least KRW 1 trillion, (ii) a person whose game caused or may cause a serious harm to the users, and therefore, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism determined that a domestic agent designation is necessary, or (iii) a person who distributes or services a game whose average new installs on Korean users’ mobile devices is at least 1,000 per day in the previous year in case of games that run on mobile devices is required to designate a domestic agent.
   

• Obligation: Foreign AI service providers, meeting the criteria set in the Enforcement Decree of the AI Act, must designate a domestic agent. Failure to designate a domestic agent can result in an administrative fine of up to KRW 30 million (Article 36, Paragraph (1), Article 43, Paragraph (1), Item 2, and Article 1 of the Addenda of the AI Act). However, a grace period for fines is under discussion to minimize the AI Act’s impact on the industry. It is yet to be determined if this grace period will also apply to the domestic agent obligation.

• The proposed subordinate regulations and guidelines of the AI Act (announced in September 2025) specify that the domestic agent designation is required for AI service providers that have:
   

The National Assembly is also considering amendments to the following laws to introduce the domestic agent designation requirement. Ongoing monitoring of these developments is advised:
 

• Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce

• Act on the Promotion of Newspapers

• Trademark Act

• Fair Transactions in Subcontracting Act

[Korean Version]