Frequently Asked Questions

An overseas game company must appoint a Korean Domestic Agent if it distributes or provides games in Korea, has no domicile or place of business in Korea, and meets at least one of these criteria:

- Total worldwide revenue of at least KRW 1 trillion in the previous year or fiscal year.

- At least 365,000 installations in Korea during the previous calendar year for any single mobile game title. This is the legal equivalent of an average of at least 1,000 installations per day.

- A reporting request from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism following an incident that seriously undermined, or was likely to undermine, the orderly distribution of games.

A Korean Domestic Agent is the overseas game company’s local compliance representative for two statutory areas: regulatory reporting requested under Article 31(2) of the Game Industry Promotion Act, and game-information disclosures required under Article 33, including applicable rating, content, and probabilistic-item information.

The agent must be reachable in Korea, maintain an effective communication channel with the overseas company, and coordinate the practical work needed to receive notices and submit responses. The overseas game company remains responsible for the game and the accuracy of the underlying information it provides.

TheGameAgent’s Korea Domestic Agent Service covers the statutory Domestic Agent role together with practical, ongoing compliance support for overseas game companies.

Our service includes:

• Domestic Agent appointment and filing with the relevant Korean authorities
• Regulatory communications with GRAC, including inquiries, monitoring notices, and corrective-action requests
• Coordination and preparation of regulatory responses and supporting materials
• Compliance advisory on probabilistic-item disclosures, game ratings, advertising, consumer protection, and other Korea-specific requirements
• Refund-inquiry handling through our Korean contact channels, with users directed to the publisher’s designated customer-support or refund channel

The current designation period runs through October 22, 2026. Eligibility for the next annual cycle, beginning October 23, 2026, will be reassessed based on the applicable statutory criteria and the relevant 2025 reference period. For the installation threshold, this means installations recorded from January 1 through December 31, 2025.

No. Based on recent confirmation from GRAC, your Terms of Service (T&C) does NOT need full Korean translation for their regular monitoring. English T&C is acceptable, provided the Domestic Agent's information is clearly included in Korean.

We align our counsel with the regulator's monitoring and enforcement priorities to propose strategic, efficient, and highly effective compliance solutions.

The current fine schedule sets an administrative fine of KRW 20 million for failing to appoint a required Domestic Agent.

Because eligibility is assessed annually, a new violation may arise if the company remains non-compliant in a later annual cycle. A violation by the agent within its statutory role is treated as a violation by the overseas game company.

GRAC identified 81 overseas game companies as subject to the mandatory appointment requirement for the first annual cycle. By July 2026, 80 companies had completed the appointment, representing a 99% completion rate; one company remained unappointed and was subject to corrective action.

Separately, 24 overseas game companies that were not legally required to appoint an agent made voluntary appointments.

The legal entity that actually distributes or provides the games in Korea is responsible for the appointment. If both a parent company and a subsidiary directly serve Korean users, each entity must appoint an agent, although they may appoint the same qualified agent.

If a foreign subsidiary or contracted third-party foreign company is the actual Korean distributor or provider, that entity must meet the requirement.

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Domestic Agent eligibility is reassessed annually based on the applicable criteria. If a company no longer meets the statutory thresholds for the next cycle, it may no longer be subject to the mandatory Domestic Agent appointment requirement for that cycle.

Companies are generally not separately notified when they fall outside the mandatory appointment criteria, so it is important to reassess eligibility before each new annual cycle.

For our clients, TheGameAgent reviews their eligibility each year and informs them whether the mandatory appointment requirement continues to apply. If a client is no longer subject to the requirement, we notify them in advance so that the Domestic Agent service agreement is not unnecessarily renewed.

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