Korea made two rounds of submissions in the service sector to the WTO. The initial submission was made in 2003. The acquisition of shares in broadcasting, communications and aviation companies was to be restricted. Foreign legal consultant services were allowed, but only in the form of representative offices. Auditing services would be limited to sole proprietorships, auditing task forces, and accounting corporations consisting of CPAs licensed under the Certified Public Accountant Act.
Higher education and adult education were partially liberalized. Foreign financial institutions could not undertake financial services, except for financial leasing, that they do not conduct in their country of origin. A single shareholder may own up to 10 percent of the stocks in a bank (or up to 4 percent in the case of a non-financial service entity) and 15 percent of stocks in a regional bank without special authorization from the authorities. A single shareholder can own up to 100 percent of a national or regional bank with special authorization by the relevant authorities. Foreign exchange positions were to be regulated and oversold positions on the spot foreign exchange market was set at 5 million dollars, or 3 percent of capital, whichever was greater. The overall level of the offer in 2003 was lower than the current level of liberalization.
Source : SaKong, Il and Koh, Youngsun, 2010. The Korean Economy Six Decades of Growth and Development. Seoul: Korea Development Institute.
