KITAC is a permanent international arbitration institution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with responsibility for overseeing the settlement of disputes arising in the course of international business dealings related to trade, investment, service.

KITAC was established on October 20th, Juche 44(1955) as an affiliated organization with the Korea Committee for the Promotion of International Trade and is a fully integrated international arbitration institution within the Korea Chamber of Commerce.

KITAC is an independent and permanent institution which, through various means, such as conciliation, mediation and arbitration, insures the prompt and impartial settlement of international business disputes.

KITAC is located in the capital, Pyongyang and has a regional arbitration committee in the Rason Economic and Trade Zone.

KITAC will strengthen friendly relations and co-operations with major arbitration institutions worldwide by establishing foreign office in the short period of time.

COMPOSITION AND PURPOSE

KITAC consists of a Chairman, a Secretary-General and a dedicated team of staff.

KITAC maintains an extensive list of highly experienced arbitrators who have considerable expertise of legal, economic, scientific and technological and related matters.

Its main purpose is to oversee the protection of the rights and interests of the parties to a dispute through the resolution, in a fair, cost-efficient and rapid manner disputes that arise in the course of the international economic transactions such as trade, investment and service.

SCOPE OF JURISDICTION

KITAC resolves the disputes that nationalities of the parties differ or the place of business, residence or domicile of at least one party is in a foreign country and the property in dispute relates to foreign countries.

And one of the parties involved is a foreign-invested enterprise or foreign-invested bank of overseas compatriot.

ADVANTAGES IN RESOLVING DISPUTES

Parties are free to appoint arbitrators, select the place, the language and rules of the arbitration. They are free to choose the applicable law and may expect to maintain any commercial secrets.

KITAC arbitration process is far rapid, more cost-effective than other major arbitral bodies worldwide and arbitration fees are considerably lower than in other countries.

Enforcement in Korea of an arbitral award is legally assured by law, specifically “Law of the DPR Korea on External Economic Arbitration”.

THE COMPOSITION PROCEDURE OF THE ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL

The selecting procedure of the number of arbitrators of the Arbitral Tribunal and arbitrators shall be agreed by the parties to the dispute.

If the parties have not made such an agreement, KITAC shall appoint 1 or 3 arbitrators and the composition procedure is as follows:

If the Arbitral Tribunal is to consist of a sole arbitrator, the parties to the dispute shall select an arbitrator by agreement and if they fail to agree on this, then KITAC shall appoint an arbitrator.

If the Arbitral Tribunal is to consist of 3 arbitrators, each party shall be given an opportunity to appoint one arbitrator each, who shall, within 15 days of appointment of each arbitrator select a Chief Arbitrator (“CA”) and even in the event that the parties fail to appoint the two arbitrators or the two arbitrators appointed fail to agree the “CA”, KITAC shall appoint arbitrators.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS TO BE APPLIED IN THE ARBITRAL SETTLEMENT

Laws and regulations applicable to the settlement of the dispute are as follows:

- The External Economic Arbitration Law of the DPR Korea (revised on August 22nd, Juche 109(2020)).

- KITAC arbitration rules (revised on July 11th, Juche 110(2021))

- The Civil Law of the DPR Korea, etc.

KITAC shall respect the international laws and practice relating to international arbitration and if applicable law for resolving the disputes shall be determined by the agreement between the parties to the dispute, the laws of the country agreed shall be applied.

MODEL ARBITRATION CLAUSE

“Any dispute arising from or in connection with this Contract shall be submitted to the Korea International Trade Arbitration Committee for arbitration which shall be conducted in accordance with the Committee’s arbitration rules in effect at the time of applying for arbitration. The arbitral award is final and binding upon both parties.”

At the same time, the number of arbitrators, the place of hearing, the arbitration language and applicable law etc. shall be clearly agreed.

THE FORM OF THE REQUEST FOR ARBITRATION

The application, revision for arbitration (“RFA”) should state/include the following:

∙ Name, full legal address, legal/juridical representative, telephone number, fax number, postal and e-mail address of the each party (“Claimant” and “Respondent”)

∙ The arbitration agreement based by the arbitration request

∙ The nature of the claims and the amount claimed (and other relief, if appropriate)

∙ The basis of the claim

∙ Any relevant related document (e.g. contract and others, etc.)

∙ In the event these have not already been agreed by the parties, a statement as to how many arbitrators are requested to decide the case, as well as the desired language of the arbitration and the place of the arbitration.

Tel : 850-2-381-5926

Fax : 850-2-381-4654

E-mail : kitac@star-co.net.com