Request for Examination in Korea: Deadline and Fees

Substantive examination of a Korean patent application must generally be requested within three years from the application date. For a PCT national-phase application, the period runs from the international filing date, not from the Korean national-phase entry date.

Article 59 of the Patent Act treats an application as withdrawn if no request is filed within the applicable period. Older references to a five-year period should not be used for current applications.

Persons entitled to request examination

Any person may request examination. A third party can therefore cause examination to begin even if the applicant intended to defer prosecution. A filed request cannot be withdrawn.

Under the current Article 59, an applicant cannot request examination if the specification does not contain claims. An applicant for a foreign-language patent application must also have submitted the required Korean translation. In a PCT case, the national-phase requirements must be completed before examination can be requested.

Article 59 provides a separate 30-day period for certain applications, including a divisional or converted application filed after the ordinary three-year period. That period runs from the filing of the later application and should be docketed with the filing itself.

Official examination fee

The official fee is KRW 166,000 plus KRW 51,000 for each claim. An application with ten claims therefore has an examination fee of KRW 676,000 before any applicable reduction.

For a PCT application, the examination fee is reduced by 70 percent when MOIP prepared the international search report or international preliminary examination report. Other reductions depend on the applicant and the current fee rules. Eligibility and the claim count should be confirmed before payment.

Early examination requests

An early request may be appropriate when a Korean launch or competitor activity is imminent, a granted patent is required for investment or licensing, an accelerated route will be used, or the commercial claims are sufficiently settled.

The request may be filed with a Korean application or at PCT national-phase entry. For a PCT application, a request filed before expiration of the 31-month national-phase period is treated as a request for early commencement of the national phase. The filing should therefore be coordinated with completion of the Korean national-phase documents and translation.

Later examination requests

Waiting within the three-year period may be appropriate when product plans remain uncertain, cost is being deferred or foreign prosecution may inform the Korean claims. It also delays the start of substantive prosecution.

The instruction deadline should precede the statutory date by enough time to confirm the claims, Korean translation and fee. Reliance on the final day creates unnecessary risk because a missed request results in deemed withdrawal under Article 59.

Deferred examination after filing the request

Korean practice also permits an applicant to request deferred examination. The application for deferral must be filed with the examination request or within nine months after it. The requested commencement point must fall within the period permitted by the applicable rules.

Since July 11, 2025, deferred examination has also been available for divisional applications. This permits the examination fee and procedural request to be addressed while the applicant aligns examination with product development or related foreign cases.

Deferred examination is different from waiting to request examination. The statutory examination request has already been made, but the applicant asks MOIP to begin substantive examination later.

Claim review before payment

Because the fee depends on the number of claims, the examination request is an appropriate time to review redundant claims, dependencies, Korean terminology and support in the specification. Claims should not be deleted merely to reduce the fee if they preserve a commercially relevant alternative.

A favourable claim set from another jurisdiction may be considered, but it should be checked against the Korean disclosure, examination practice and commercial objective. Importing a narrow foreign claim set may surrender useful Korean scope.

Official references

• Korean Patent Act Article 59
• WIPO PCT Applicant's Guide for the Republic of Korea
• MOIP patent fee schedule
• MOIP notice on the July 2025 deferred-examination change

Related Korean patent guidance

• Patent Filing and Prosecution Costs in South Korea
• Patent Prosecution Time in South Korea
• Accelerated Patent Examination in Korea

Legal and editorial review: July 16, 2026. MOIP is Korea's current IP authority; some official English materials may retain KIPO or transitional terminology.

This article provides general information, not legal advice. The applicable deadline, fee and procedure must be confirmed for the specific application.