How did fair use get into the Korean Copyright Act?

As I explained in my previous blog post, the open-ended fair use clause in the Korean Copyright Act (“KCA”) was introduced in 2011 in the course of implementing the Korea-US FTA (“KORUS”). Yet, this does not mean that KORUS mandates legislation of fair use. Instead, KORUS restricts the scope of fair use. Footnote 11 of KORUS §18.4:1 mentions fair use, but it’s purpose is to make clear that any limitation or exception to the reproduction right to temporary storage is restricted to the controversial three-step test, and even when Korea or the US introduces or maintains fair use, the three-step test prevails... Therefore, it is fair to say that the fair use clause of KORUS is a sort of by-product produced in a way that Korean government blinds dark sides of the overly expansive KORUS protection of copyright in temporary storage.