The current Patent Act does not explicitly prescribes destroying of novelty due to disclosure on internet. This problem is dealt with the amendment and it became clear that by disclosing on internet before the priority date the invention will lose novelty. (Art. 29(1))

Under the current Patent Act, a period of grace of six months is allowed for a patent application which has been known by the applicant before the filing date in Korea.
One question has remained un-answered under the current grace period provision in Korea: what about a patent application which is not same as but improved from the invention known by the applicant? This was because the article prescribing non-prejudicial disclosures (Art. 30(1)) recites only the novelty provision (Art. 29(1)) but not the inventive step provision (Art. 29(2)).
To this question, the amended Patent Act gives an affirmative answer and will also recognize the grace period in applying the inventive step provision as well as the novelty provision. (Art. 30(1))