South Korea and the Netherlands at a glance
- Stamp
- Apostille, Hague Convention in force for South Korea since 14 July 2007
- Issued by
- Notarised documents and powers of attorney are apostilled by the Ministry of Justice
- Language
- Korean, sworn translation
- Register
- Supreme Court Registry Office
- Tax treaty
- Signed 1978, in force 1981 (Rijksoverheid, 1 October 2026)
- EU trade
- Free Trade Agreement, applied since 2011
- In the Netherlands
- 110 companies controlled from South Korea in 2024, 90 in 2021 (+22.2%), about 3,000 jobs, €7.1 billion turnover, 0.6% of all 19,995 foreign-controlled companies (CBS, 9 October 2026)
- Moving here
- Residence permit needed
Documents from South Korea
Passport copy, certified by a notary in South Korea.
Proof of address in South Korea, at most three months old.
Power of attorney. Sign the power of attorney before a Korean notary public. The Ministry of Justice apostilles the notary’s seal.
Ownership statement, one page from us.
The apostille. Notarised documents and powers of attorney are apostilled by the Ministry of Justice. Documents issued by government bodies are apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Overseas Koreans Agency. The ministry also issues e-apostilles through apostille.go.kr. This usually takes 1 to 3 working days.
Good to know. There are two ministries for apostilles. If you send a notarised document to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministry sends it back. The registration certificate leaves out the shareholders, so add the shareholder register.
If a company from South Korea becomes a shareholder
Register extract, at most three months old: Supreme Court Registry Office. Order a certificate of corporate registration (법인등기부등본), which shows directors and capital. The shareholders are shown in the company’s shareholder list, certified by the notary. Plus articles, signing authority and ownership chart.
Trade between South Korea and the EU
Trade in goods between the EU and South Korea came to about €124.25 billion in 2025, with EU exports of €54.5 billion and imports of €69.7 billion. South Korea is the EU's eighth-largest trade partner in goods, and the EU is South Korea's third-largest.
In 2025, machinery and transport equipment made up 50.8% of EU exports to South Korea and 52.7% of EU imports, followed by chemicals at 17.3% and 22.2%.
Trade in services reached €32.9 billion in 2024, with an EU surplus of €8.6 billion. The EU is the largest foreign direct investor in South Korea: €53 billion in 2024, against €41.8 billion of South Korean investment in the EU.
The Free Trade Agreement between the EU and South Korea has applied since 1 July 2011. Goods trade grew by an average of 5.3% a year from 2011 to 2025, and a Digital Trade Agreement was signed on 10 June 2026.
Import duties: Access2Markets.
Sources: European Commission [1].
Your next step from South Korea
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