"Jo-hap" is a Korean word for a sort of "partnership" like entity under the Western legal concept. Often, a Korean construction company (or companies) and a foreign company may enter into a joint venture agreement, in which case, under the Korean law, such agreement may very well be considered a "Jo-hap" agreement. In other words, the content, rather than the wording of the agreement, takes precedent in determining the kind of agreement.
One thing that a foreign company should know before entering into a "Jo-hap" agreement with a Korean company under the governing law of Korea is that in case a "Jo-hap" needs to sue a third-party, the consent of all other parties to the "Jo-hap" needs to be obtained. If another party to the "Jo-hap" does not consent, then the foreign party may well be not able to sue the third-party.
For example, let's say a foreign subcontractor and a Korean contractor enter into an agreement named "Joint Venture Agreement" (the "JVA") to market and work together to build a construction project in Korea, and the Korean law governs the JVA. [As explained above, under the Korean law the JVA will be considered to be a "Jo-hap".] Let's further assume that down the road, the owner-client unlawfully terminates the construction agreement, and the foreign subcontractor is very upset and wishes to sue the owner-client for the wrongful termination of the construction agreement with "Jo-hap". However, the Korean contractor party is very close to this owner-client and does not wish to sue the owner-client and withholds its consent to sue the owner-client. The Korean contractor party's refusal to sue the owner-client places the foreign subcontractor in a quandary -- which could have avoided if the foreign subcontractor had retained a good Korean law firm to draft the JVA agreement to allow the foreign subcontractor (a member of Jo-hap or JVA) to pursue a claim against a third-party without the consent of the Korean contractor, the other Jo-hap member.
One way to avoid this potential problem is to include a provision in the JVA "Jo-hap" to make it clear that the foreign subcontractor has the decision-making ability to decide on any matters concerning disputes or litigation against third-parties, with or without consent of the other Jo-hap members.
This example illustrates subtle differences between Western law and Korean law regarding the respective rights and obligations under the partnership-like agreement. That is why you need to retain a law firm which understands this difference and can exploit this difference to your advantage.