(1) Where a foreign corporation has a fixed place for the operation of all or part of its domestic business, the foreign corporation shall be deemed to have a domestic place of business.
(2) A domestic place of business referred to in paragraph (1) includes any of the following places:
1. Branches, offices, or business offices;
2. Shops and other fixed sales places;
3. Workshops, factories, or storages;
4. Places used for building, sites for construction, assembly or installation works, or places used for performing supervisory activities related thereto, for more than six months;
5. Any of the following places where employees provide services:(a) A place where services are provided for at least six months in total during a 12-month period in which such services continue to be provided;(b) A place where services are provided for not more than six months in total during a 12-month period in which such services continue to be provided, and similar services are continuously and repeatedly provided for at least two years;
6. Mines, quarries, or places for exploiting and gathering marine natural resources and other natural resources (including what are in the sea floor or under soil on the tidelands adjacent to the coast of the Republic of Korea outside its territorial waters where the Republic of Korea exercises sovereignty under international laws).
(3) Where a foreign corporation without any fixed places referred to in paragraph (1) operates the business in the Republic of Korea through any of the following persons or an equivalent person prescribed by Presidential Decree, the location of the person's place of business (where he or she does not have any place of business, it shall be his or her address, and where he or she does not have any address, it shall be the location of his or her residence) shall be deemed the domestic place of business of the foreign corporation: <Amended on Dec. 24, 2018>
1. A person who is authorized to conclude any of the following contracts on behalf of the relevant foreign corporation and repeatedly exercises such authority in the Republic of Korea:(a) A contract concluded under the name of a foreign corporation;(b) A contract to transfer ownership of assets owned by a foreign corporation to grant permission to use the assets that the foreign corporation has ownership or right to use;(c) A contract to give service of the foreign corporation;
2. A person who repeatedly plays an important role (limited to cases where the foreign corporation concludes a contract without changing any important matters of the contract) in the process of concluding a contract, although the person has not the right to conclude a contract, etc. under the name of the foreign corporation for such foreign corporation in the Republic of Korea.
(4) Where any of the following places (hereafter in this Article, referred to as "specific place of activities") is used for performing preparatory and supporting business activities of the foreign corporation, it shall not be included in the domestic place of business in paragraph (1): <Amended on Dec. 24, 2018>
1. Fixed places used by a foreign corporation only for purchasing assets;
2. Fixed places used by a foreign corporation only for storing or keeping assets not for sale;
3. Fixed places used by a foreign corporation for advertisement, publicity, gathering and providing information, market research, or similar activities;
4. Fixed places used by other persons only for processing a foreign corporation's own assets.
(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (4), where a place for specific activities falls under any of the following, such place shall be included in the domestic places of business under paragraph (1): <Added on Dec. 31, 2018; Dec. 31, 2019>
1. Where a foreign corporation or a foreign corporation (including non-residents; hereafter in this paragraph, referred to as "person having a special relationship") having a special relationship prescribed by Presidential Decree does business in a place same as the specific place of activities or other domestic place and satisfies each of the following items:(a) The foreign corporation or a person having a special relationship shall have its domestic place of business in a place same as the specific place of activities or other domestic place;(b) The activities conducted in the place for specific activities and those conducted at the domestic place of business under item (a) shall be mutually complementary;
2. Where a foreign corporation or a person having a special relationship conducts complementary activities in a place same as the specific place of activities or other domestic place and the comprehensive activities comprised of all activities are not preparatory and supporting business activities in light of the business activities of the foreign corporation or the person having a special relationship.[This Article Wholly Amended on Dec. 30, 2010]