About Us

Origins of the Firm

The inception of the firm lies in the original plans by the government of the DPRK to issue separate, exclusive licenses for periods lasting several years each, to one fully foreign-invested international law firm and one similarly one wholly foreign-owned international accounting firm, thus fully opening its legal market and its accounting markets to foreign direct investment.

Despite expressions of interest in the licenses expressed by major firms from no fewer than 5 of the G-8 countries, the DPRK recognized nonetheless the challenges presented by the ongoing international situation, and the concomitant hesitation on the part of major international service firms to decide to enter the market immediately – despite the little-publicized increasing foreign investment and foreign business activity and consequent business opportunities already available in the DPRK.

Michael Hay, a dual British-French citizen and international attorney turned consultant, who had conceived and worked on the project, had no such hesitation. He had visited the DPRK already some fifteen times; had over thirteen years' experience of Korea and Asia; had specialized first as a multilingual international lawyer, and then formed a business consultancy focused solely on serving foreign companies interested in the DPRK, whether as an investment prospect or for the purposes of confidential business briefings offering strategic business advice and market-entry consulting. 

During that time he had accumulated thousands of hours of business negotiations and site-visit experience with the DPRK for foreign companies, both with governmental entities and trading companies, and both inside and outside the DPRK, working opposite senior counterparts in several DPRK governmental entities. He had also been asked on occasions, by both foreign parties and DPRK parties, to troubleshoot business deals using his business, cultural and linguistic experience of Korea.

Also, by being on the ground in the country, he was well-placed to see that behind the headlines lay – and still lie -- considerable opportunities for the international business community, notwithstanding the current international tensions, and especially for those willing to get up before the competition, as has happened in many other Asia-Pacific countries. Indeed such opportunities are currently being exploited, in the form of both wholly-foreign owned and joint-venture partnerships with North Korean counterparts, by companies from such countries as Germany , the United Kingdom , Australia , France , Italy , China , Japan , Singapore , Sweden , Hong Kong , Thailand , and many others. Fields of activity include heavy industry, infrastructure and transportation, finance, banking & insurance, coal-mining, gold-mining, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, mineral extraction, high-quality cosmetics, glass, cement, telecommunications, hotel, leisure & sports resorts and complexes, oil & gas, tobacco processing and car and SUV production.

In short, Michael Hay decided, in the course of ongoing business negotiations on both licenses, that a far more logical approach than protracted, uncertain negotiations was to take the next logical step. Accordingly, in Summer 2004, under a special authorization issued by the DPRK Government, Michael Hay, through his consultancy, formed a joint-venture with a Thus, on August 15, 2004, Korea's Independence Day, the DPRK's first law and Multidisciplinary Business Practice, comprising, law, business consulting and accounting services was formed, with one foreign and one DPRK principal, in addition to legal, accounting and support staff.

HKA welcomes inquiries from all countries, and is there to serve those companies already in the country, and those seeking to join these companies in one of the world's truly “emerging markets”.