Clifford Chance (CC) has confirmed that it has submitted a licence application to practice in Korea.

The news was released by Korean regulators after CC submitted its application at the end of last year.

CC Asia head Peter Charlton said: "We are pleased to confirm that we have submitted a preliminary application to the Republic of Korea Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for registration as a foreign legal consultant. According to the press release issued by the MoJ, we are the first and only law firm to have made an application thus far.

"We have had an active and substantial Korean focus for over 30 years. We have ambitious plans for our Asia-Pacific operations, and the Republic of Korea is an important part of those expansion plans. We have consistently indicated our interest in opening an office in Korea, and we're now going through the necessary processes to make this happen."

The South Korean legal market has been closed to practice by international law firms but was opened up last year following lengthy free trade negotiations both between Korea and the EU and Korea and the US.

UK firms have been able to apply to enter South Korea under a free-trade agreement with the EU since July last year, while the Korea-US FTA was ratified in November and became effective as of 1 January this year.

The rules governing foreign legal consultants in Korea require individual lawyers to have at least three years' experience practising the law of the country where their firm is based.

Foreign firms that wish to set up offices in Korea must first gain approval from the MoJ before registering with the Korean Bar Association, with the process expected to take around three months. Each FTA provides for a five-year period during which firms from the respective countries will not be able to form affiliations or merge with Korean firms, or hire Korean-qualified lawyers.

Other firms with plans to open in Korea include Linklaters, Herbert Smith, DLA Piper, Paul Hastings and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Cleary has confirmed that it plans to open in South Korea in the first six months of next year, with Hong Kong partner Yong Guk Lee to head the office, which will initially be staffed with counsel Jay Hoon Choi and up to five associates drawn from the firm's 17-lawyer Korea team in Hong Kong. Lee said the firm plans to move "the bulk" of its Korea practice to Seoul within the next two to four years.

Meanwhile, Paul Hastings has said it intends to open in the country as soon as possible this year.