Korea has a clear regime of copyright exceptions that follows the fair use model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. Art. 35.5 of the Korean Copyright Act lists the exceptions, which include any use that does not conflict with the general method of use of the copyrighted work and which unfairly infringes the legitimate interests of the author. To determine whether an act of use of a copyrighted work falls under the fair use model, the following issues are considered: the purpose and nature of the use; the types and uses of copyrighted works; the proportion and importance of the part used in the whole work; and the impact of the use of the work on the market or current value or market or potential value of the work.

It is reported that the rapid advancement of digital technologies has led to a rise in online copyright infringement. One prevalent issue in Korea is stream-ripping, a practice where specialised software is used to create unauthorised copies of copyrighted content from licensed streaming platforms. As a result, stream-ripping has become a major form of music piracy, causing significant economic harm to music creators and undermining legitimate online services.

Korea has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Korea has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

The Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act provides a framework for the effective protection of trade secrets. According to Art.1 of the Act, trade secrets are defined as "information, including a production method, sale method, useful technical or business information for business activity, that is not known publicly, is the subject of considerable effort to maintain its secrecy and has independent economic value. The law (chapter 2) contains provisions for the protection of trade secrets, such as an injunction against infringement, liability for damages, and restoration of reputation.

It is reported that Korea has no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in the country to deliver telecom services to end users. However, it is practised in both the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements.

The Telecommunications Business Act regulates licenses for network equipment and creates rules for the fair use of telecom facilities. Per Art. 8, foreign corporations cannot operate facilities-based telecom business in the country. Foreign ownership is allowed only up to 49% of the stock.

Under the Telecommunications Business Act, telecommunications businesses are divided into two categories: namely, facilities-based telecommunications services (FTS) and value-added telecommunications services (VATS). FTS refers to businesses that install telecommunications line equipment and facilities and provide telecom services. VATS are online services using the FTS network, such as cloud computing services, email, e-commerce platforms, and internet search engines. Since 2009, the Act has prohibited foreigners from owning more than 49% of the stock of a telecom enterprise when it comes to FTS (Art. 8).

Korea does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, accounting separation is required in certain cases: According to the Telecommunications Business Act, accounting is mandated for facilities-based telecommunications business operators who possess telecommunication service equipment and whose telecommunications service turnover of the preceding year exceeds 30 billion won (approx. 22.5 million USD), and for facilities-based telecommunications business operators who do not possess telecommunication service equipment and whose telecommunications service turnover of the preceding year exceeds 80 billion won (approx. 60.2 million USD).

Since 1998, Art. 4 of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act has provided that the national government has a right to decline a foreign investment if there is clear evidence that this investment poses a threat to the national security or public interest. This is not sector-specific but applies horizontally. A decision of the national government about restricting a foreign investment is followed by a notification of the Minister of Knowledge Economy including the categories of business and content of restriction. Korea uses a negative list system, which means that the country is open to foreign investments unless it is explicitly restricted.

Art. 13 of Act No. 18813 mandates that companies with national core and strategic technologies, as prescribed in the National Core Technology list, must obtain approval from the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy before being acquired by or merging with a foreign company, or entering into a joint venture with one. These are referred to as "National High-Tech Strategic Technology" and include, among others, semiconductor companies.

Korea is a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

The Act on Contracts to Which the State is a Party excludes, under Art. 4, international bidding for certain public procurement tenders in cases where:
- the procurement is for goods or services required for producing other goods or services intended for sale or resale;
- the products are manufactured by SMEs and purchased in accordance with the Act on Facilitation of Purchase of Small and Medium Enterprise-Manufactured Products and Support for Development of their Markets (Act on SMEs);
- a Presidential Decree prohibits such bidding in line with the Government Procurement Agreement.
Similarly, under Art. 5 of the Act on Contracts to Which a Local Government is a Party, international bidding for local government procurement is regulated in the same way. It is reported that the Act on Facilitation of Purchase of Small and Medium Enterprise-Manufactured Products, which governs procurement under these frameworks, classifies foreign-invested enterprises as "large" companies solely because they are foreign or multinational. As a result, such "large" foreign companies can only participate in projects exceeding USD 220,000.