• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.3-31
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• 2014

As all aspects of international activity have kept growing in good transaction, transnational investments, joint ventures, and the licensing of intellectual property, it is inevitable for disputes to increase across national frontiers. International disputes can be settled by arbitration and ADR. In the situation presented in the paper, any dispute shall be finalized by arbitration and conciliation in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. Inter-Korean Commercial Arbitration in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex has become the principal method of resolving disputes in trade, commerce, and investment in accordance with the "Agreement on South-North Commercial Dispute Settlement Procedures," "Agreement on Organization and Operation of Inter-Korean Commercial Arbitration Committee," and the Annexed Agreement on "Organization and Operation of Inter-Korean Commercial Arbitration Committee" (2013). But the follow-up measures of the said agreements have not been fulfilled. Some prerequisite measures of the Inter-Korean commercial arbitration must be satisfied. In order to proceed with arbitration and conciliation in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, we need to ask the following: Does the status of an arbitrational matter? Should an agreement to arbitrate contain a choice of law clause? Should one provide for one arbitrator or three? How should the arbitrators be selected? What is the relation between party-appointed arbitrators and the presiding arbitrator (neutral arbitrator)? Do arbitrators compromise more than the litigation? Can conciliation be combined with arbitration? To execute the enactment of arbitration regulations, the contents of the Arbitration Rules of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (South) and the Korea International Trade Arbitration Committee (North), together with the Korean Arbitration Act and External Arbitration Act of North Korea and the UNCITRAL Model Arbitration Law and UNCITRAL l Arbitration Rules are reflected in the Rules. There are many aspects of the Inter-Korean Commercial Arbitration. It is essential to understand key elements; namely, the arbitration agreement, appointment of arbitrator, arbitral proceeding and arbitral award, and enforcement and setting aside of arbitral award. This research deals with five chapters. Chapter 1 provides the introduction. Chapter 2 deals with trade volume between South and North Korea and the kinds of dispute in Gaeseong. Chapter 3 addresses contents and follow-up measures of the agreement on the "South-North Commercial Dispute Settlement Procedures," "Agreement on Organization and Operation of Inter-Korean Commercial Arbitration Committee," and the Annexed Agreement on "Organization and Operation of Inter-Korean Commercial Arbitration Committee" (2013). Chapter 4 features the problems and tasks of the pertinent agreements. Chapter 5 gives the conclusion. Enabling parties to find an amicable solution to the dispute in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex can lead to a useful and appropriate framework either through direct negotiation or by resorting to conciliation or mediation in accordance with pertinent agreements and follow-up measures contained in the agreements.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.37-67
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• 2023

Arbitration is a just and efficient method for resolving economic disputes. It adapts to the needs of economic development and is an important institution in today's society. Around the world, a tradition of resolving disputes through arbitration spontaneously developed in ancient times and gradually evolved into a legal system with the development of jurisprudence starting from the Middle Ages. In China, formal legislation on arbitration began in the modern era during the Republic of China period. However, the origins of arbitration as a method for resolving disputes can be traced back to ancient times, during the Qin and Han dynasties. The most significant modern arbitration legislation in China is the "Arbitration Law" enacted in 1995, which drew on the experiences of foreign arbitration laws. Despite this, there are still many areas in arbitration legislation that require improvement based on practical experiences. Currently, revisions to the Arbitration Law are underway, and historical experiences may offer valuable insights, assisting in better integrating the Arbitration Law with Chinese society. This article primarily focuses on the role and impact of the imported modern commercial arbitration system in China and how it can be harmonized with China's legal culture in the future.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.38
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• pp.155-180
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper is to examine the major elements of Arbitration Clause in international investment contracts and to help the investor, especially foreign investors, considering these elements when they draft the contracts. First of all, to describe the extent of the arbitrable issues broadly is very important by using the phrase such as "disputes in connection with". Furthermore in order to be enforceable, the issues must be a subject-matter to be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the laws of the place of arbitration and the law application to the merits of the disputes (N.Y. Convention, Art. II). Second, the appointment of the arbitrators usually shall be based on the principle of freedom of contract. If the parties do not agree on the appointment, it is decided in accordance with the arbitration rules of the institution by the tribunal. Third, the procedural rules of the arbitration are the arbitration rules of the arbitration institution in case of institution arbitration, unless otherwise agreed. Forth, what is the most importance element of Arbitration Clause is the place of arbitration. In this case, also the principle of freedom of contract has priority. Unless otherwise agreed, Washington is the place of arbitration in case of ICSID Arbitration, but in case of ICC Arbitration, neutral third country may be the place of arbitration. However in case of ad hoc arbitration, both parties should indicate the place. If not, the whole arbitration may be paralysed by an uncooperative party. Besides the major elements, I examined the relation between the arbitration clause and award enforcement in terms of sovereign immunity. The enforcement of awards in the field of state contracts many encounter the problem of the sovereign immunity, which means that the State itself or the State enterprise is the contract partner. To avoid the this problems, it is advisable for the parties insert the clause such as ICSID Model Clause XIX.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.59-81
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to find a solution to disputes in the process of producing digital music sources. At present, the center of the world music market including the domestic market has been completely transformed from the tangible musical record market to the intangible sound source market. Due to these environmental changes, the music production process becomes industrialized and specialized, causing conflicts of interest among the individuals in the process. First of all, this study examined changes in the music market which is the background of the dispute, identified the problems of the process and suggested solutions while summarizing the meaning and role of each process of producing a sound source that may arise during the sound production process. This study covers plagiarism between producers, copyright infringement of the creator against assistant creator caused by the industrialization and division of the production environment, issues related to the rights of sound engineers whose role and importance become bigger as acoustic technology develops and music genres become more diverse, and vertical hierarchy due to the formation of oligopoly by several distributors with huge capital. As a result of the study, it was concluded that Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system is suitable for solving these problems. Specific methods of using ADR include activation of the dispute settlement system of the Korea Copyright Commission, active use of the arbitration clause specified in the standard contract, and recalculation of labor costs and earnings from copyright through mutual negotiations. This paper can be differentiated from previous studies in that it studied overall problems that might arise in the process of digital music source production and suggested ADR utilization as the solution.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.55-87
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• 2011

This paper is to illustrate a variety of court-annexed ADR programs and vindicate its implications of court-annexed ADR in United States. It has been almost three decades since Frank Sender articulated his vision of the multi-door courthouse. The court-annexed ADR originated from the concept of multi-door court house. Professor Sander argued that the court must transform from the court that provides litigation, only one type of dispute resolution, to the multi-door courthouse which provides a variety of dispute resolution methods including a number of ADR programs. The types of court-annexed ADR on which this paper focus are court-annexed mediation, court-annexed arbitration, mini trial, early neutral evaluation(ENE), summary jury trial, rent-a-judge, and med-arb in United States. The findings of this paper is as follows. First, the ADR movement is the irreversible and dominant phenomenon in the US court. The motivation of incorporating ADR into court is to reduce the cost of court to handle the civil disputes and to eliminate the delay of litigation process in the court. At the same time, a couple of studies of ADR revealed that the ADR program satisfied users of ADR. Second, the landscape of ADR has not been fixed. In 1970's, the court-annexed arbitration has been popular. In 1980's, the diverse kinds of ADR programs were introduced into the federal court as well as state courts, such as mini trial, early neutral evaluation(ENE), summary jury trial, and court-annexed mediation. But in 2000s, the court-annexed mediation has been the dominant type of ADR in United States. Third, the each type of ADR program has its own place for the dispute resolution. Since Korean society enters into the stage in which diverse kind of disputes occur in the areas of environment, construction, medicare, etc, it is desirable to take into consideration of the introduction of ADR to dispute resolution in Korea.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.151-176
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• 2011

The main objective of this study is twofold. The first is to investigate the main currents of Korean commercial arbitration. The second is to investigate the research methodology of Korean commercial arbitration in the perspective of disciplinary fusion perspective. The main findings of Korean commercial arbitration are as follows: first, the incidence of commercial arbitration increased in the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board during the period of 2006-2010, second, the primary causes of trade claims are disputes related with payment and those related with sales contracts, third and finally, the number of countries seeking to resolve disputes through arbitration has increased, including European countries. In this setting, it is necessary to investigate commercial arbitration through the inter-disciplinary perspectives. This study suggests that there are five research methodologies of commercial arbitration. They are legal theory related methodology, institutional methodology, cultural methodology, causal methodology and empirical methodology. Traditionally, the legal profession leads the field of commercial arbitration. However, it is necessary to introduce other elements to the field of commercial arbitration. This study highlights the disciplinary fusion approach among five research methodologies of commercial arbitration.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.13
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• pp.699-733
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• 2000

This article analyzes the state-of-play of WTO dispute settlement for first four and a half years. Remarkable points found on this analysis are as follows: First, the Quad consisting of the United States, the European Community (EC), Canada and Japan has participated in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism more frequently than any other WTO member. Second, among developing country members some leading countries such as Korea, Brazil and India have relied actively upon the mechanism to claim and defend their rights and obligations under the WTO rules. Third, bilateral dispute settlements generally have been preferred to multilateral dispute settlements by the panel or Appellate Body. Fourth, observation of the Appellate Body proceedings well shows WTO members' strategy to use every process available to them. Fifth, the provisions of GATT 1994 have been most frequently invoked by the members. GATS and TRIPS Agreement disputes are mainly involved in developed countries, in particular the U.S. and the EC. Sixth, very high winning ratio in the panel and Appellate Body process indicates that complaining parties review the possibility to get favorable rulings even before referring to the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) and prepare for the case very thoroughly. Seventh, roughly speaking, disputes were settled within two or three years. Therefore, seeking bilateral dispute settlement can be more advantageous to a complaining party than referring to a panel or an arbitrator because of low costs and short time period in dispute settlement. Finally, the DSB approved retaliatory actions for winning complaining parties against the defending parties who had rejected implementation of its rulings and recommendations. In conclusion, it can be said that the WTO dispute settlement mechanism has been operated very successfully for the first four and a half years. It is hoped that continued study on state-of-play of WTO dispute settlement mechanism will be contributory to improved national interest of Korea.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.49-69
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• 2008

This study is to analyze the case law on the disputes of the ex-im contract of steel bar from Yugoslav to Egypt, for which awards were made by the ICC Arbitration Court, trying to find out the characteristic approach of the tribunal toward arbitration case dealing with socialistic country, Yugoslav and Islamic Egypt. An Egyptian importer and an Yugoslavian Exporter concluded a contract, with an option to purchase an additional quantity. for the steel bar. The importer exercised this option as provided in the contract. But the exporter refused to honor the option, due to the fact that the world market price for the steel bar has gone up. As a result, the importer had to purchase the steel bar as a replacement from a Rumanian company at the price higher than the original contract. And it has initiated arbitration under the arbitration clause at the ICC Arbitration Court to claim compensation for the loss due to the price difference. CISG and ULIS were closely studied along with the Yugoslav Law to determine whether the exporter could be exempted from the liability to damages. But the tribunal denied to accept the exporter's contention. The tribunal decided that the importer was entitled to damages due to the exporter's failure to deliver the additional quantity of goods at the original price. It was due to the fact that the price increase was not extremely sudden & high enough to exceed a reasonable entrepreneurial risk and also could be taken into account when concluding the contract.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.97-122
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• 2013

Vietnam has become an attractive destination for foreign investors, but confidence in the country's legal system to resolve commercial disputes remains low. Reasons include the lack of an independent judiciary, the lack of published court decisions, and a tendency to criminalize civil disputes, among others. As such, arbitration has become a preferred alternative to litigation. On June 17, 2010, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed a new act on commercial arbitration replacing the July 1, 2003 ordinance on commercial arbitration. The new act will take effect on January 1, 2011, and it is widely expected by the Vietnamese legal profession and lawmakers will create a favorable legal framework for the expansion of the arbitration service market in Vietnam. The new act is inspired by the UNCITRAL Model Arbitration Law of 1985 as are most new arbitration laws throughout the world. As opposed to the 2003 ordinance, the 2010 Act allows parties to request interim relief from the arbitrators. Also the new act eliminates the mandate that arbitrators be Vietnamese. The law has addressed the ordinance's shortcomings and reflects international standards. Commercial arbitration law is an important milestone in the improvement process of the laws on commercial arbitration in Vietnam. However, it is still too soon to affirm anything definitely because there remain many obstacles to the activation of arbitration. Rule of law and business cultural factors are important. The leading arbitral institution, VIAC, which is attached to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is expected to play an important role for boosting the competitiveness of Vietnamese arbitration as an avenue to dispute settlement.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.107-127
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• 2021

Vietnam is an important country with many trade transactions with the Republic of Korea. Arbitration is a method of resolving disputes that can arise with the increase in trade transactions. It is essential to study the legal system and precedents of Vietnam on the approval and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Such is the case because the law in Vietnam and the court's position on the approval and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards issued by the courts depend on the possibility of realizing the parties' rights concerning their disputes. Therefore, it is of great value both theoretically and practically to analyze the exact differences between approval and the denial of approval. Vietnam has enacted the Commercial Arbitration Act, which replaces the previous Commercial Arbitration Decree and creates an arbitration-friendly environment that meets international arbitration standards. Regarding the approval and execution of foreign arbitration awards, the Commercial Arbitration Act, the Civil Procedure Act, the Civil Execution Act, and the Vietnam Foreign Arbitration Awards Approval and Enforcement Ordinance are regulated. Following these laws and regulations, the reasons for the approval, enforcement, and rejection of the arbitral award are specified. In accordance with these laws and inappropriate arbitration agreements, an arbitral award beyond the scope of its right of disposition, an arbitral tribunal, or the concerned parties could not be involved in a proceeding or an arbitral award if the involved party does not have an opportunity to exercise its rights lawfully. If the state agency in the forum does not recognize the arbitral award, the dispute is not subject to arbitration under Vietnamese law, or the arbitral award does not conform to the basic principles of Vietnamese law, the parties are not bound, and the foreign arbitration award is rejected for approval and execution.