President Lee Jae-myung said the government would "respond firmly to unjust claims going forward," after its victory in an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) case brought by a Chinese investor was finalized.
Lee made the remarks on the 13th in a post on X, formerly Twitter, adding, "I thank the officials at the Ministry of Justice who worked hard to protect the national interest."
"Being a foreign investor does not mean that an investment made in violation of South Korean law can be protected," Lee said, calling it "a principle confirmed in international arbitration proceedings through this victory in the ISDS annulment process."
The Ministry of Justice had said earlier that an annulment committee at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) rejected all of the Chinese investor's requests to annul the arbitral award the previous day.
The investor, surnamed Min, lost collateral after a business funded by illegal loans failed and filed an investment dispute claiming the South Korean government was responsible, seeking 246.1 billion won ($178 million). Min lost that case, and the subsequent request for annulment was also rejected.
