Korea, Rep.

Ease of Doing Business in

Korea, Rep.

This page summarizes Doing Business 2013 data for the Republic of Korea. The first table lists the overall "Ease of Doing Business" rank (out of 185 economies) and the rankings by each topic. It also lists the economy's distance to frontier (DTF)** measure. The rest of the tables summarize the key indicators for each topic and benchmark against regional and high-income economy (OECD) averages.

Economy Overview

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Economy Summary
Starting a Business
Dealing with Construction Permits
Getting Electricity
Registering Property
Getting Credit
Protecting Investors
Paying Taxes
Trading Across Borders
Enforcing Contracts
Resolving Insolvency
Region OECD high income
Income Category High income
Population 49,779,000
GNI Per Capita (US$) 20,870
Doing Business 2013 Rank Doing Business 2012 Rank Change in Rank
8 9 down 1

Doing Business 2013 DTF** (% points) Doing Business 2012 DTF** (% points) Improvement in DTF** (% points)
82.5 81.5 down 1.0
Topic Rankings DB 2013 Rank DB 2012 Rank Change in Rank
Starting a Business 24 22 up -2
Dealing with Construction Permits 26 24 up -2
Getting Electricity 3 3 No change
Registering Property 75 72 up -3
Getting Credit 12 9 up -3
Protecting Investors 49 79 up 30
Paying Taxes 30 41 up 11
Trading Across Borders 3 3 No change
Enforcing Contracts 2 2 No change
Resolving Insolvency 14 13 up -1

Economy Profile

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Additional Topic

Additional Data

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Starting a Business

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The challenges of launching a business are shown below. Included are: the number of steps entrepreneurs can expect to go through to launch, the time it takes on average, and the cost and minimum capital required as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita.

DB 2013 Rank 24 DB 2012 Rank 22 Change in Rank down-2
DB 2013 DTF** (% points) 89.9 DB 2012 DTF** (% points) 89.9 Improvement in DTF** (% points) 0.0
YearNew business densityNumber of new limited liability companies
2011 1.122,391
Indicator Korea, Rep. OECD high income OECD

The total number of procedures required to register a firm. A procedure is defined as any interaction of the company founders with external parties (for example, government agencies, lawyers, auditors or notaries).

View methodology Procedures (number)
5 -- 5

The total number of days required to register a firm. The measure captures the median duration that incorporation lawyers indicate is necessary to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up with government agencies and no extra payments.

View methodology Time (days)
7 -- 12

Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. It includes all official fees and fees for legal or professional services if such services are required by law.

View methodology Cost (% of income per capita)
14.6 -- 4.5

The amount that the entrepreneur needs to deposit in a bank or with a notary before registration and up to 3 months following incorporation and is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita.

View methodology Paid-in Min. Capital (% of income per capita)
0.0 -- 13.3
No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Using "StartBiz", check the availability of trade name and obtain a certificate of name availability, open a bank statement from a bank, file the application package for incorporation and obtain a corporate registration tax bill, register the company and 3 days KRW 2,000
* 2 Make company seal 1 day KRW 30,000
* 3 Pay the corporate registration tax bill. 1 day (simulteneous with previous procedure) no charge
* 4 Pay the fees for the certificate of seal impression of incorporation. 1 day (simulteneous with previous procedure) 1.2% capital registration tax + education tax ( 20% of the registration tax)+ KRW 10,000 (e-registration form) of Supreme Court stamps
* 5 Pay the fees for the Public Health Insurance Program, the National Pension Fund, Employment Insurance, and Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance 1 day (simulteneous with previous procedure) no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.

** The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business. An economy’s distance to frontier is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Read more...

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