South Korea

South Korea, formally known as Republic of Korea, is a country in southeast Asia and home of conglomerates including Samsung, LG, and Hyndai.

Consumer Protection

South Korea legally mandates at least a 7-day return policy for most goods bought online^[1].

The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) is one of the worlds strictest data privacy laws, requiring companies to obtain explicit consent before collecting personal information^[2], requires companies to accept information deletion requests^[3], and requires personal information to be destroyed after it's collection purpose has been achieved^[4]. In addition, service providers are required to deactivate accounts that haven't been used in over 2 years to protect personal data.^[5].

Incidents

In 2009, a blogger was arrested for publishing messages online to damage public interest. In 2010, the law used to charge the blogger was deemed unconstitutional^[6].

Political Uncertainty

Despite technical prominence, South Korea is held back by political turbulence. The United Nations has only considered South Korea a Developed Country as of 2021^[7], and as of 2025, 9 of 13 Korean presidents were either exiled, removed by coup, forced to resign, assassinated, arrested or impeached^[8]. South Korea has an active ceasefire with North Korea^[9], and has issued Martial Law as recently as 2024^[10], giving the military sweeping powers including search without warrant^[11].

[1] ttps://www.gowonderfully.com/post/a-foreigner-s-guide-to-online-shopping-refunds-and-returns-in-south-korea

[2] ttps://www.dlapiperdataprotection.com/?t=collection-and-processing&c=KR#insight

[3] ttps://developer.slashid.dev/docs/access/concepts/data-protection-compliance/south-korea-privacy

[4] ttps://www.breachrx.com/global-regulations-data-privacy-laws/south-korea-personal-information-act-2/

[5] ttps://help.naver.com/service/5640/contents/21466?lang=en

[6] ttps://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1389&context=unswwps-flrps12

[7] ttps://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Economy/Koreas-Rise-to-a-Developed-Country

[8] ttps://lemmy.ml/post/26713143

[9] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement

[10] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_South_Korean_martial_law_crisis

[11] ttps://blogs.loc.gov/law/2024/12/falqs-south-korean-martial-law/

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