A Bellwether to Korea's New Frontier in Investor-State Dispute Settlement?: The Moscow Convention and Lee Jong Baek v. Kyrgyz Republic

This article will first seek to provide an overview of the state of play of Korea’s ISDS regime. It will discuss the historic nature of the recent cases that have contributed to a critical mass of ISDS actions involving the Korean state as the respondent and Korean investors as claimants. The article will then provide analysis of the Moscow Convention with particular focus concerning its special provisions. After examining the Lee Jong Baek Award, it then explores the potential ramification of the recent cases to Korea’s ISDS policy.

It suggests that these cases may represent a tipping point in Korea-related ISDS.