By Ian Werther in News — 14 Mar 2026

PCA dismisses Schindler damages; Korea protects taxpayers

President Lee Jae-myung praised the Ministry of Justice for a complete victory in an international investment dispute brought by Swiss elevator maker Schindler Holding AG against the Korean government. The ruling, reported by Yonhap News Agency, found no liability and dismissed Schindler’s damages claims totaling about 325 billion won.

In a post on X, the president shared a link to coverage of the decision and wrote that the roughly 325 billion won claim was dismissed, thereby protecting taxpayers’ money. He thanked the Ministry of Justice staff for handling the difficult case and said the government would continue to safeguard national wealth and the nation’s interests.

Relatives of the entrepreneur Julius Schindler (1878–1941) of Hamburg during a partially costumed rehearsal for a private stage play on the occassion of the 25th anniversary of Schindler's marriage with Irma Schindler, nee Spitzer (1883–1954). The couple married on April 2, 1905. The idea for this stage play may have been developed by Fritz Schindler (1920–2016) since he at that time attended the reform boarding school Schule am Meer of principal Martin Luserke on the island of Juist where stage play was a major subject. From the left: Gerhard „Harry“ Spitzer, acting as the late father Hermann Spitzer (1850–1917) of Irma Schindler. Fritz Schindler acting as a shoemaker's apprentice to represent Hermann Spitzer's leather business, Anni Schindler (1906–1999) acting as her mother Irma and Gustav Schindler (1910–1988) acting as his father Julius during courtship wearing a Austrian-Hungarian uniform. — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The dispute traces back to actions by Hyundai Elevator related to a paid-in capital increase and a transfer of call options during 2013 to 2015. Schindler argued that the Korean government had failed in its oversight duties, prompting the 2018 ISDS filing under the investor-state dispute settlement framework.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration, which administered the case, dismissed the entire damages claim from Schindler. The government was also awarded the potential to recover about 9.6 billion won in litigation costs from Schindler.

ISDS, or investor-state dispute settlement, is a mechanism that allows foreign investors to sue governments over alleged violations of investment protections. The PCA is a leading international arbitration body that handles such disputes, among others, under various treaties and agreements.

masonry, glass, benches, steel, map, photo
Getrud Luckner Trade School Freiburg, 1995
The artwork on the schoolyard grounds is not an actual bus stop. But at first glance it looks like one. It does not immediately reveal itself as a work of art. The masonry corresponds to that of the school buildings. Moreover, the work of art can be used (benches). Only the interior, with a steel table and a wall-filling large photo, can only be viewed but not entered. The benches are reflected inward through the glass walls that separate them from the interior. The building reconstructs, with reference to Gertrud Luckner, namesake of the school and honorary citizen of the city of Freiburg, the formal language of railroad carriages and waiting halls and is dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Luckner.
Always on the move for her fellow human beings, Gertrud Luckner herself was arrested one day by Nazis on a train and deported to a concentration camp. Her restless, ultimately rushed life for others found pictorial expression in the resting place of the 'Haltestelle'. A work that also gives pictorial form to the temporary stay of young people at the school: In a unique and special way it invites to use the space it offers in a communicative way and to animate it.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

For U.S. readers, the decision matters as a signal about how Korea handles investor protections and regulatory oversight in cross-border business. Korea is a key node in global supply chains, particularly in manufacturing and infrastructure equipment, and outcomes like this can influence foreign investors’ risk assessments, costs, and decisions about where to allocate capital and sourcing. It also shapes expectations for how multinational firms, including those from the United States, engage with Korean partners and navigate international arbitration pathways.

Context in brief: Schindler Holding AG is a Swiss company; Hyundai Elevator is a Korean firm involved in the capital and option transactions cited in the dispute; the case was brought in 2018 under ISDS provisions and resolved by the PCA with a full dismissal of damages. The town-hall event in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, provided the setting for the president’s remarks on the ruling.

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