DLA Piper and O'Melveny & Myers have set out plans to open in Seoul before the end of the year as the pair await approval from the Korean Ministry of Justice, which opened the market up to foreign law firms earlier this year.

Both firms have already found office space in the city, with each planning to second partners from other offices. DLA is set to relocate London litigation partner Michael Kim and Tokyo corporate partner Daniel Lee to lead its efforts, while O'Melveny is to move Hong Kong of counsel Sungyong Kang and Jinwon Park to the country.

DLA Asia managing partner Bob Charlton said: "Touch wood next month we will be opening in Seoul. Seoul is an opportunity for a whole number of firms, but we see the opportunities for us mainly being in the outbound corporate and litigation/arbitration areas.

"For the first time since I've been with DLA we are going into a new market at the same time as our competition and we're doing it with people who are already part of our firm."

O'Melveny, which is hoping to be in Seoul by the end of November, said that in addition to the two of counsel permanently based in Korea, other partners and of counsel will travel to and from the country on a regular basis.

The overall Korean practice will be led by corporate partner Joseph Kim, who will split his time between Korea and the US.

Last week Herbert Smith said it would relocate two partners to Seoul for its launch, which has just been approved – London dispute resolution and construction partner Tony Dymond and Singapore corporate partner Lewis McDonald – in addition to four associates.

Meanwhile other firms expected to open in the region include Linklaters and Ashurst. Around 10 firms have already opened in Korea, with Ropes & Gray, Sheppard Mullin and Clifford Chance among the first to launch. US firm Covington & Burling became the latest to open, with partner William HY Park set to lead a team of five lawyers.

The opening up of South Korea's legal market to foreign firms comes after the European Parliament ratified a free trade agreement (FTA) in February last year.

Liberalisation of the market is set to occur in three stages, starting with foreign firms opening offices in the country and progressing to allow them to recruit locally and invest in local business.