There are two kinds of mediation that could take place in the course of litigation before a Korean court, which we briefly note below.

Under Korean law and practice, courts sometimes suspend pending litigation to request that the parties in the litigation try to reach a settlement. The courts may take such measure even after the close of hearing. The courts often rely on such procedure, which is called court-sponsored meditation, when the legal issues are highly complex or are not clear-cut, or if they believe that the dispute is better suited to a settlement rather than a decision entirely in favor of one party. In such a procedure, the court will typically hold a mediation session in court. If the parties cannot reach a settlement, then the mediation is stopped, the suspension on litigation is lifted, and litigation resumes.

It is also noted that there exists a less voluntary variation on court-sponsored mediation (so-called court-ordered mediation). Under this approach, rather than request the parties to try to reach an agreement, the court may present a settlement proposal for consideration of the parties after listening to the parties during the mediation hearing(s). In such case, any party can reject the settlement order within 2 weeks of receiving the written notice of settlement order. However, if neither party files their objection within the 2-week period, the order of the court becomes final. It is then entered into court records as the final decision in the case. If any party rejects the settlement order, the mediation is dissolved and litigation resumes.