The importance of intellectual property is soaring in South Korea. In early September 2026, the former Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) was elevated to ministry status and is now known as the Ministry of Intellectual Property.

In an interview with The Korea Herald, Intellectual Property Minister Yong-sun Kim said that ministry status would give the authority the ability to do much more. “The biggest change is that our role no longer ends with granting and protecting rights. We are expanding it to help intellectual property generate revenue through transactions and commercialization.”

The ministry has proposed a budget of ₩710.6 billion (US$506 million) for 2027, up ₩79.8 billion from 2026, to support its expanded mandate.

The newspaper says that Kim’s priority has been to strengthen the ministry’s authority to coordinate IP policy across government agencies. Previously fragmented policies are now being connected through cross-government programs, including the Ideas for All project and a state-backed K-brand certification system, it reported.

Kim said South Korea faces a technology trade deficit of more than US$3.8 billion, despite it being the world’s fourth-largest patent filer, and must capture a larger share of the global IP transaction market, which is valued at more than US$1 trillion.

“Companies need to see intellectual property not simply as a tool for protecting technology, but as a source of economic returns,” he told the newspaper.

The report noted that the government plans to identify 100 promising technologies developed through state-funded research and secure overseas patents for them. It will select 50 technologies in the second half of the year and another 50 in the first half of 2027.

It will also foster companies specializing in selling and licensing South Korean patents overseas, the newspaper reported. The ministry plans to designate 20 leading K-IP monetization companies by December and expand funds dedicated to generating revenue from IP in global markets. For startups and small businesses short on capital, the ministry will strengthen IP financing programs that allow patents to be used to secure loans, guarantees and investment, it said.

To streamline the reporting of technology theft, the government has also expanded its technology police force, creating a unit that analyzes patent data to detect potential technology leakage risks and develop response strategies. Another team will strengthen the ministry’s independent investigative capabilities and protections for suspects’ rights.

“Victims of technology crimes will no longer have to go from agency to agency,” Kim said. “They will be able to receive one-stop support from the technology police.”

As South Korea continues to focus on intellectual property, we turned to IP professionals in the region in order to understand better what clients are looking for from today’s outside IP lawyer. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. From their answers, we have compiled our list of South Korea’s 60 IP Experts, those lawyers who understand just what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.

Top-notch individuals are increasingly easy to come by in Seoul, and the legal market is seeing a transformation from a small handful of old-school, very established firms dominating the market to a larger number of firms for legal departments to choose from.

Bae, Kim & Lee (Kijoong Kang, Jihyun Kim, Taeck Soo Kwon, Samuel Song Mok Lee and Mun Ki Nam), Kim & Chang (Duck Soon Chang, Ann Nam-Yeon Kwon, Man Gi Paik, Chun Y. Yang and Jay Young-June Yang) and the NAM IP Group (Alex Hyon Cho, Ji-Woong Kim, Seo-Young Lee, Sang-eun Shin and Ben Beyong-ho Yuu) led our rankings, each with five lawyers on the list. Lee International IP & Law Group placed four lawyers on our list: Jin-Hoe Kim, Terry Taehong Kim, Young-Bo Shim and Yoon Suk Shin)

FirstLaw; Lee & Mock IP (formerly known as Y.P. Lee, Mock & Partners) and Yulchon each placed three lawyers on the list, while a host of firms had two each: E.M. Hwang & Partners, Jipyong, KBK & Associates, Lee & Ko, Muhann Patent & Law Firm, PI IP Law, Shin & Kim, Yoon & Lee International Patent & Law Firm and You Me Patent & Law Firm.

Fourteen more firms each placed one lawyer on our list, accounting for nearly one-quarter of all lawyers named.

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s South Korea IP Experts. – GREGORY GLASS

South Korea’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to in-house counsel in South Korea, Asia and elsewhere around the world, as well as Asia-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has more than 55 years of collective experience in researching and understanding South Korea’s legal market.

All private practice intellectual property lawyers in South Korea were eligible for inclusion in the nominations process; there were no fees or other requirements for inclusion in the process.

The names of our 60 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.