Who Can Act as a Licensing Administrative Agent in Korea — Qualification and How to Verify It

A licensing administrative agent in Korea is a haengjeongsa (administrative scrivener) who holds the qualification under the Certified Administrative Scrivener Act and has filed a business report with the head of the city, county or district of the main office, so that they may act for others in permit and licence applications (Articles 2(1)5, 5 and 10(1)). The certificate alone is not enough: the person must also be free of disqualifications, complete practical training and join the Korean Association of Administrative Scriveners before reporting (Enforcement Decree Article 20(1)). This article checks the current Act, Decree and Enforcement Rule as of 2026.

What you may delegate is covered in our note on the scope and limits of a licensing scrivener. Here we answer the earlier question: is the person in front of you legally a scrivener?

Qualification Starts With the State Exam

Scriveners are general, maritime or translation scriveners (Article 4). Acting in permit applications belongs to the general scrivener; maritime scriveners are limited to shipping and marine safety tribunal matters, and translation scriveners to translation and filing translations (Decree Article 3). For a business licence, look for a general scrivener.

The Minister of the Interior and Safety holds the exam once a year in two stages, with administration entrusted to HRD Korea (Article 8; Decree Articles 8(1) and 12). The first stage is multiple choice; the second is an essay exam that may include short-answer items (Decree Article 9(2)).

Where a minimum intake is set and too few pass, candidates with 40 or more in every subject are added by average score (Decree Article 17(3)). The Minister issues the qualification certificate after confirming the pass and the absence of disqualifications, and records it in a register (Decree Article 18; Enforcement Rule Article 6). A candidate caught cheating may not sit the exam for 5 years (Article 9-2).

Partial Exemptions and Disqualifications

Article 9 gives only partial exemptions; the rest of the exam must still be passed:

• First stage exempt — career or special-category officials with 10 years of service, 5 of them at grade 7 or above (Article 9(1)1; Decree Article 13(2)).
• First stage and part of the second exempt — 15 years with 8 at grade 6 or above, or 10 years with 5 at grade 5 or above; the exempt subjects are Administrative Procedure and Office Management (Article 9(2); Decree Table 1).
• Holders of another category — first stage exempt (Article 9(1)4).

Officials who were impeached, dismissed by discipline, or demoted or suspended for bribery or embezzlement cannot use these exemptions (Article 9(3)). Experience is counted at the application deadline, and a first-stage pass carries over to the next exam only (Article 9(5)). Addendum Article 3 of Act No. 10441 (2011) kept older full or partial exemptions for officials and translators already serving, so routes differ, but the Minister-issued certificate is always the proof.

Under Article 6 a person cannot become a scrivener if they are under adult guardianship; bankrupt and not reinstated; within 3 years of serving a sentence of imprisonment without labour or heavier; within 2 years of the end of a suspended sentence of that kind; in a deferral period; within 3 years of dismissal from public office by discipline; or within 3 years of revocation under Article 30. These grounds are checked again at the business report (Decree Article 20(1)1). The Minister must revoke the qualification, after a hearing, for fraud, lending the certificate, practising during suspension or a final prison sentence under the Act (Article 30).

A Licence Alone Is Not Enough — The Business Report

The four criteria are: no disqualification, completed practical training, the certificate, and association membership (Decree Article 20(1)); membership is also required by Article 26-2. Practical training comprises 20 hours of basic and 40 hours of on-site training, in person or online, and the association issues the completion certificate (Article 25(1); Decree Article 23; Enforcement Rule Article 15).

The local office issues the business report certificate and records it in its registers (Article 12; Enforcement Rule Article 9). If it neither issues it nor refuses within 3 months, the report is deemed accepted the next day; a refused applicant may object within 3 months (Article 11).

Scriveners must then complete 16 hours of continuing training every 2 years; practising without it carries a fine of up to KRW 1,000,000 (Decree Article 23(6); Article 38(2)4). A temporary closure of more than 3 months must be reported, and one not ended within 2 years is deemed a closure of business (Article 17).

Office Names and Scrivener Corporations

A scrivener may have one office only; a joint office of 2 or more may open branches with at least 1 member working full time at each (Article 14). The office name must contain "administrative scrivener office" in Korean, and non-scriveners may not use this or the title "administrative scrivener" (Articles 15 and 3(2)).

Three or more scriveners may form a scrivener corporation with the Minister's approval (Articles 25-2 and 25-3). It files its own business report, uses "administrative scrivener corporation" in its name, may not take on members untrained under Article 25 (Articles 25-4 to 25-6), and must designate a responsible scrivener for each matter who signs its documents (Article 25-7).

How to Verify a Scrivener Before You Engage

Lending the certificate is banned for lender, borrower and broker alike (Article 13). Staff may consult with you, but their acts are deemed the employing scrivener's (Article 18(2)). If in doubt, contact the issuing office named on the certificate, which keeps the registers (Enforcement Rule Article 9(2)), and for long matters ask whether a suspension of up to 6 months is in force (Article 32(1)). For matters with long follow-up, such as non-profit association establishment or freight forwarder registration, confirm the responsible scrivener stays the same.

Unlicensed Practice and Duties Owed to Clients

A non-scrivener may not carry on scrivener work as a business unless another law allows it (Article 3(1)):

• Practising without the qualification or lending the certificate — imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to KRW 30,000,000 (Article 36(1)); lending is also a ground for revocation (Article 30(1)2).
• Practising without a business report or during a suspension — up to 1 year or KRW 10,000,000 (Article 36(2)1 and 6).
• Using the title or a similar office name — an administrative fine of up to KRW 5,000,000 (Article 38(1)).

A verified scrivener must act fairly, compensate loss caused intentionally or negligently (Article 21), and keep duty-related facts confidential, as must staff (Article 23). A former official may not, for 1 year after retiring, act in permit applications before an agency where they worked in their final year, except agencies where they worked 1 month or less (Article 21-2; Decree Article 21-2). Scriveners keep a case register — serial number, date, outline, remuneration, client details — for 1 year (Article 24; Decree Article 22), and must promptly issue a certificate of facts about work they performed on request (Article 20; Enforcement Rule Article 13).

See also our guide to choosing a licensing scrivener. Texts: Certified Administrative Scrivener Act and its Enforcement Decree. Costs vary case by case and are explained precisely during the free consultation.

Yuseon Administrative Scrivener Office (Chief Scrivener Jeong Yuseon) · Based on the Certified Administrative Scrivener Act (Act No. 19034, in force 15 November 2022), its Enforcement Decree (Presidential Decree No. 35813, in force 1 January 2026) and Enforcement Rule (Ministry of the Interior and Safety Ordinance No. 633, in force 30 August 2026) · Last reviewed 3 October