According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s release of September 12, 2013, Korean applicants filed 49,617 patent applications abroad in 2011. The United States was the largest destination, with 27,289 applications, approximately 55% of the total. China accounted for 16.4%, Japan for 10.1%, and the European Patent Office for 9.9%. These figures concern Korean applicants filing abroad, rather than foreign applicants filing in Korea.
Korean applicants filed 18,279 trademark applications abroad. China received 6,598, or 36.1%, making it the leading destination. ASEAN countries accounted for 11.6%, the United States for 8%, and Japan for 7.6%.
KIPO compared overseas filings with domestic filings. For patents, the overseas-to-domestic application ratio for Korea was 0.36, compared with 1.35 for Germany, 0.76 for the United States, and 0.65 for Japan. For trademarks, Korea’s ratio was 0.16, compared with 1.02 for Germany, 0.66 for Japan, and 0.65 for the United States. These are filing ratios, not registration or grant rates.
KIPO encouraged Korean companies to plan intellectual property protection in overseas markets from the technology and product development stage, alongside their commercial expansion, to support their opportunities abroad.
Source: https://www.kipo.go.kr/ko/kpoBultnDetail.do?aprchId=BUT0000029&menuCd=SCD0200618&ntatcSeq=12811&sysCd=SCD2