Setting Up a Company in Korea?

Yes — a foreign national can own 100% of a Korean company. The Foreign Investment Promotion Act guarantees foreign investors the same right to a wholly-owned local entity as a Korean national. The real questions are which structure fits, and whether the investment clears the threshold that unlocks a D-8 visa.

FDI company vs. an ordinary company — the 100M KRW line matters

There are two paths to a foreign-owned Korean company:

• FDI company (외국인투자기업) under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act — requires a minimum investment of KRW 100 million and at least a 10% ownership stake. This status is what unlocks a D-8 (corporate investment) visa, making it far easier to actually live in Korea and run the business.
• An ordinary company can be formed with less than KRW 100 million, but it won't be registered as an FDI company — meaning no D-8 visa eligibility and no access to the tax incentives that come with FDI status.

If staying in Korea to run the business matters, the KRW 100 million threshold isn't optional in practice.

The FDI process, four stages

1. Foreign investment declaration (pre-incorporation) — filed with KOTRA or a foreign-exchange bank under Foreign Investment Promotion Act Art. 5, before the investment funds are transferred. Needed: the investment declaration form, the investor's passport copy, remittance-related documents, and articles of incorporation (Korean and English) plus a business plan. Once accepted, you receive a "foreign investment declaration acceptance certificate."

2. Capital transfer and company registration — the foreign investor wires foreign currency to their own account at a Korean foreign-exchange bank, which is converted to KRW and used as paid-in capital; the bank issues a confirmation. For a company with capital under KRW 1 billion, a foreign exchange purchase certificate is also required. Registration itself follows the standard Commercial Act incorporation process (original articles of incorporation, founders'/shareholders' seals, the capital-deposit or forex-purchase certificate, directors' and auditors' letters of acceptance, seal registration).

3. FDI registration (post-incorporation) — filed with KOTRA or the foreign-exchange bank under Art. 21, within 30 days of the incorporation registration. Needed: the FDI registration application, the corporate registry certificate, proof of share payment, and a copy of the investment declaration certificate. This produces the "foreign-invested company registration certificate" — the document that actually unlocks FDI tax benefits and free remittance.

4. Follow-on steps — business registration at the tax office, then the same general steps as any company (4 major insurances, seal registration, bank account opening), plus industrial-park approval, environmental review, or business licensing if the specific business requires it — and finally, the D-8 visa application itself.

Practical hurdles unique to a foreign officer or founder

No domestic seal registration means no seal certificate. A foreign national who hasn't registered as a foreign resident in Korea can't register a seal or obtain a seal certificate — so documents that would normally require a seal impression (most notably the letter of acceptance of office) instead need the foreign national to sign in person before a notary, who certifies the signature. Documents that don't legally require a seal impression can simply be signed, or stamped with an ordinary (non-registered) personal stamp.

How a foreign name and address get entered on the registry. Registration directives require a foreign national's name to be recorded in Hangul, transliterated by its original pronunciation — optionally paired with the Roman-alphabet spelling from the passport in parentheses. If the home-country script can't be represented at all, only the passport's Roman-alphabet spelling may be used, and a passport copy must be submitted as supporting documentation. A foreign address is recorded in Hangul per Korea's own loanword transcription rules, formatted the Korean way (largest administrative unit first), with a space between each word, letter group, number, or symbol — e.g., a US address becomes "미국 캘리포니아주 노스힐스 애퀴덕트 애비뉴 9560," not a literal reproduction of the English order. The foreign national's nationality is also recorded ahead of their name (e.g., "중화인민공화국인" for a Chinese national). Because all of this is public record, get the registration directive's exact formatting right the first time — a translation of the supporting documents is required alongside it.

Documents needed, by investor type

Individual foreign investor: passport copy, a certificate proving their home-country address, and a certified signature statement (requiring notarization). Corporate foreign investor: a corporate registry certificate from the home country, articles of incorporation, and the representative's passport copy. Common to both: a seal or signature, and a power of attorney if a representative is handling the filing in person. A physical office is also required — the registered address is a mandatory item in both the articles of incorporation and the registry. Any document issued abroad must carry an apostille or consular authentication before it has legal effect in Korea — this is not optional, and it's one of the most common causes of delay when it's addressed too late in the process.

LLC (유한회사) or corporation (주식회사)?

About 95% of Korean companies are 주식회사 (stock corporations), but a 유한회사 (limited liability company) is sometimes the better fit — particularly for a closely-held foreign subsidiary that doesn't need outside investors.

• Structure: 유한회사 is member/unit-based and closed by default (unit transfer is restricted); 주식회사 is share-based and open by default (share transfer is free unless the articles say otherwise).
• Governance: 유한회사 runs on a members' meeting alone, with no board of directors — simpler in practice. 주식회사 normally has a shareholders' meeting, a board, and an auditor (though a company with capital under KRW 1 billion can skip the board and auditor — see the small-company exemptions below).
• Cost: 유한회사 never needs its articles of incorporation notarized. 주식회사 does, unless its capital is under KRW 1 billion. Overall setup and maintenance costs run lower for a 유한회사.
• Tax: identical either way — corporate tax rate, VAT, and withholding tax don't depend on which structure you choose.
• Bank perception: a 주식회사's external-audit and disclosure obligations tend to read as more transparent to a lender, though in practice several banks report little real difference in loan terms.
• Incorporation specifics: a 유한회사's articles must additionally list each member's personal details and unit count, capital is paid in via a capital-payment certificate sealed with the company seal, and it needs only one director (no auditor required) — versus a 주식회사's fuller officer/governance structure.

Small-scale stock corporation exemptions (capital under KRW 1 billion)

A 주식회사 with capital under KRW 1 billion — the vast majority of new foreign-invested entities — qualifies for meaningful relief under the Commercial Act:

1. No notarization required for the founding articles of incorporation.
2. A simplified capital-payment balance certificate at incorporation.
3. The same simplified certificate for a new share issuance later.
4. As few as one or two directors, with no board of directors required at all.
5. No statutory auditor required.
6. No notarization required for the founders' meeting minutes.
7. Shareholder resolutions can be passed in writing, without an in-person meeting.
8. Most matters that would otherwise require board approval shift to the shareholders' meeting instead.

What a founder actually needs to decide and bring

Decide in advance: company name (plus a backup, in case of a name conflict), capital structure (share/unit price and count — registration-license tax is a flat KRW 112,500 up to KRW 28 million in capital), registered address (in road-name format), the public notice method (a newspaper, or the company website if one exists), the business purpose (matched to Statistics Korea's Korean Standard Industrial Classification, sub-class level or more specific), and officers — note that a shareholder/founder cannot also serve as the company's director or auditor; those roles need a separate appointee. Documents each founder/officer brings: every officer needs a seal certificate, registered seal, resident registration abstract (available via Gov24), and an ID copy; the founding shareholder additionally needs a bank balance certificate showing at least the paid-in capital amount, held in the representative founder's own name; and a company seal is needed once the entity itself is formed.