The English name of a Korean company is not its legal name
Updated
The English name on your supplier’s website, letterhead and invoice is almost certainly not the name it is registered under. Korean companies register in Hangul, and the English rendering is a convention rather than a registered fact.
Why this catches people out
Romanisation is not standardised in practice. The same Korean name can plausibly appear as Daehan, Dae-han or Taehan, and a company may use different forms in different places. None is more official than another, because none of them is what the registry holds.
Consequences are practical rather than theoretical. Searching a registry for the English name finds nothing. A contract naming only the English form may be arguing about which entity was meant. Bank transfers can fail when the beneficiary name does not match the account records.
What this means for verification
It is a large part of why the registration number matters so much. The number is unambiguous where names are not: one business, one identifier, no romanisation to argue about. When you verify a number you have identified an entity exactly, which no English name can do.
It also explains a limit of the authenticity check. The National Tax Service compares the Korean representative name you supply against its records — an English spelling will not match, however correct it looks. See reading a 사업자등록증.
Practical rules
- In contracts, name the company in Hangul with the English in brackets, and include the registration number. The number resolves any ambiguity
- For bank transfers, use the beneficiary name exactly as the supplier’s bank holds it — ask, rather than transliterating yourself
- For registry searches, use the Korean name or the number. English will not find it
계약서 작성을 위해 사업자등록증상의 상호를 한글로 정확히 알려주시겠어요?
For the contract, could you give me the company name in Korean exactly as it appears on the business registration certificate?
A related trap
Two unrelated Korean companies can carry near-identical English names, since neither is registered as such. If you are dealing with a company whose English name resembles a well-known Korean brand, that resemblance means nothing on its own. The registration number is what tells you whether they are related.
Identify the business by number, not by name.
Check a number