Entering Korea, in the right order.

As a rule, before. Article 5(1) of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act requires a foreign investor to notify in advance. Article 5(2) allows notification within 60 days after acquiring the shares in a limited set of cases — among them, acquiring existing shares of a listed company, shares issued when reserves or revaluation surplus are capitalised, shares received through a merger, comprehensive share exchange, or corporate split, and shares acquired from an existing foreign investor by purchase, inheritance, or gift. If your transaction is not on that list, advance notification is the default.

In practice, with KOTRA (Invest Korea) or a foreign exchange bank. The Act directs the notification to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Enforcement Rule (Article 2(1)) designates those two as the counters where the notification form and supporting documents are submitted. MOTIE itself handles approval cases, which is a different track from notification.

No — they are separate steps with separate authorities. Company incorporation is a court registry matter; the FDI notification is made under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act; tax registration is with the National Tax Service. The usual sequence is incorporation, FDI notification, tax registrations, then payroll registration — but the right order for a specific structure depends on how the investment is being made.

Yes. Changes to what was notified require an amended notification. The Enforcement Rule lists the items specifically: the foreign investment ratio and investment amount, the foreign investor's name and nationality, the company's name and address, the business it operates or intends to operate, and — where relevant — the share transferor and loan terms. This is the filing most often missed, because it comes long after everyone has stopped thinking about setup.