The Copyright Act, since its 2006 amendment, has established a safe harbour regime for intermediaries, exempting Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from liability for copyright infringement when acting as mere conduits, caching, hosting, or searching information (Art. 102). ISPs are also not liable for users' infringing acts if it is technically impossible for them to take preventive measures.

There is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Korea to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

Art. 8.1 of the Telecommunications Business Act stipulates that foreign governments or foreign nationals may collectively hold no more than 49% of the total issued shares of a facilities‑based telecommunications business operator that satisfies the criteria prescribed by Presidential Decree regarding the type, installation area and other characteristics of telecommunications line equipment. Under Art. 2.11, a “facilities‑based telecommunications service” is a service that transmits or receives voice, data, images and similar content without altering their form or substance and leases telecommunications line equipment to enable such transmission or reception, including services such as telephony and Internet connectivity.

It is reported that the government holds an equity stake in the telecommunications firm KT Corporation, with the National Pension Service currently owning 7.77% of the company.

Korea does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, there is an obligation of accounting separation.

Korea has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

Korea has a telecommunications authority: the Korea Media and Communications Commission. However, it is reported that the decision making process of this entity is not fully independent from the government.

The Electronic Financial Supervisory Regulations mandate that financial services using cloud services for credit information and unique identification details (such as resident registration numbers, driver’s licence numbers, passport numbers, and alien registration numbers) must process this data locally (Art. 14.2). Financial companies and electronic financial business operators are required to use cloud systems located in Korea to process personal credit information and unique identification information. This provision was inserted as part of an amendment in December of 2018.

Per Art. 5 of the Act on the Protection, Use, Etc. of Location Information, any person who intends to engage in location information business shall obtain permission from the Korea Communications Commission. Even if permitted to do such business, location information providers or location-based service providers cannot collect the location information of individuals without the individual's consent under Art. 18. These restrictions have been in place since 2005.
It is reported that, although a supplier may export location information once acquiring a permit, Korea has never approved such a permit despite numerous applications by foreign suppliers over the past decade.
Art. 16 of Act on the Establishment, Management of Spatial Data provides that geographical data related to maps or photos produced for the purpose of a survey cannot be transferred abroad except with the permission of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. This provision has been in place since 2014.

In accordance with Art. 7 and Appendix of the Ministry of Health and Welfare Notice No. 2023-245 on the Standards for Facilities and Equipment for Managing and Storing Hospital-Generated Electronic Medical Records, cloud servers storing patient electronic medical records created by hospitals must be situated in South Korea. Additionally, the law mandates that the Ministry of Health and Welfare shall issue an official notification every three years outlining the requirements for servers, including backup servers, used to store these records. Currently, these servers must be physically located in South Korea, and accessing medical records from outside the country is prohibited.

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.

In January 2023, the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology Information and Communication issued a notice of implementation and adopted an amendment to the Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP). Under the amendment, it is reported that, to obtain CSAP certification from the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), a service provider’s cloud computing infrastructure, associated data, backup systems, as well as management and operational personnel, must all be located within Korea.

Under Art. 25 of the Patent Law, non-resident foreigners can only obtain patents if their home countries provide reciprocal treatment to Korean nationals or if a treaty or convention with Korea exists, following the reciprocity principle. Additionally, Art. 5 stipulates that individuals without a domicile or place of business in Korea cannot initiate patent-related procedures or file legal proceedings against administrative decisions unless represented by a patent attorney or agent based in Korea. Finally, Art. 201 requires patent applications to include a Korean translation of key documents, such as the abstract, description of the invention, claims, and titles of drawings, among others.

Korea is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Korea maintains a well‑defined framework of copyright exceptions modelled on the doctrine of fair use, permitting third parties to use copyrighted works lawfully without prior authorisation. Art. 35‑5 (Fair Use of Works) of the Copyright Act provides that such use is permissible where it does not unreasonably prejudice the author’s legitimate interests or conflict with the normal exploitation of the work. In assessing whether a particular use satisfies this standard, the Act requires consideration of the purpose and character of the use, the nature and purpose of the work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used relative to the whole, and the effect of the use on both the existing and potential market or value of the work. Further limitations on authors’ economic rights are set out in Arts. 23 to 35‑4 and 101‑3 to 101‑5 of the Act.