Korea has been effectively running the foreign investment ombudsman system since its adoption in 1999. Thanks to its successful operation, the system was adopted for the Korea-China free trade agreement (FTA). After this, a handful of countries including Vietnam, Russia, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Brazil, and Chile have been trying to emulate the Korean ombudsman system.

Strictly speaking, the foreign investment ombudsman institute does not belong to any government organization or agency. Because of its legal background, the institute is politically and financially independent. The budget for running the ombudsman institute comes from the central government.

The foreign investment ombudsman system was created by the Foreign Investment Promotion Act. The foreign investment ombudsman is selected through multiple processes. The ombudsman is appointed by the nation's President on the recommendation of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy through deliberation by the foreign investment committee. This committee mostly consists of vice ministers of various ministries. In this manner, the ombudsman's professional authority and personal integrity are thoroughly examined. By tradition, this appointment is a three-year term and can be renewed a few times.

Under the leadership of the foreign investment ombudsman are three units ― administration, an advisory group of officials and the ombudsman's assisting staffs. Several staff are deployed from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to provide administrative support, 22 officials are dispatched from the local and central government agencies to deliver consulting service to foreign investors and 10 "home doctors" give special treatment to foreign-invested companies which are suffering business grievances. KOTRA maintains a very effective global network by running 123 Korea Business Centers covering 83 countries. The ombudsman can fully utilize KOTRA's resources.

Among the three units in the ombudsman's institute, the home doctors unit is worth explaining. The ombudsman alone cannot resolve all grievances. The ombudsman's tailored service for foreign investors is possible because of support by the professional staff. Their previous occupations include accountants, lawyers, labor dispute specialists and financial executives. In the foreign investment ombudsman office, they are called "home doctors."

Home doctor may be synonymous with the term, "family doctor" who knows a patient's chronic illnesses like a family member in order to provide preventive care and health education to patients. The family doctor keeps the patient's illness confidential unless the patient says otherwise. Likewise the home doctors in the foreign investment institute are supposed to provide foreign investors with needed services. They give information on tax exemption, visa extensions, labor disputes, bookkeeping, location support, cash subsidies, etc. They even check the validity of the existing rules and regulations.

However, home doctors can be a two-edged sword. Currently each home doctor has 30-50 foreign companies in mind for continued care. When they register as foreign-invested company, they are assigned to a relevant home doctor and receive necessary assistance and guides. When they bring the case of grievances to the ombudsman's office, they are assigned to a single home doctor or a team of home doctors depending on the seriousness of the matter.

Home doctors are the first contact point for foreign investors. If the home doctor fails to be kind, attentive or sincere from the beginning, he cannot be considered trustworthy. Then they will never call back again and the grievance will not be resolved. If this prevails for some time, the entire ombudsman system may collapse. So the appropriate incentives should be provided for the home doctors. They need to receive training on customer-oriented attitudes periodically.

Jeffrey I. Kim is a foreign investment ombudsman, a presidentially appointed troubleshooter for investors and entrepreneurs from overseas. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Chicago and taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Sungkyunkwan University.