Korean Law MCP

64 tools to search, retrieve, and analyze Korean law — statutes, precedents, ordinances, and more.

MCP server + CLI for Korea's official legal database (법제처 Open API). Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, and any MCP-compatible client.

한국어

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Why this exists

South Korea has 1,600+ active laws, 10,000+ administrative rules, and a precedent system spanning Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, tax tribunals, and customs rulings. All of this lives behind a clunky government API with zero developer experience.

This project wraps that entire legal system into 64 structured tools that any AI assistant or script can call. Built by a Korean civil servant who got tired of manually searching 법제처 for the hundredth time.

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Features

• 64 Legal Tools — Statutes, precedents, admin rules, ordinances, constitutional decisions, tax rulings, customs interpretations, legal terminology
• MCP + CLI — Use from Claude Desktop or from your terminal. Same 64 tools.
• Korean Law Intelligence — Auto-resolves abbreviations (화관법 → 화학물질관리법), converts article numbers (제38조 ↔ 003800), visualizes 3-tier delegation
• Annex Extraction — Downloads HWPX/HWP annexes and converts tables to Markdown automatically
• 7 Chain Tools — Composite research workflows in a single call (e.g. chain_full_research: AI search → statutes → precedents → interpretations)
• Caching — 1-hour search cache, 24-hour article cache
• Remote Endpoint — Use without installation via https://korean-law-mcp.fly.dev/mcp

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Quick Start

Option 1: MCP Server (Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf)

npm install -g korean-law-mcp

Add to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "korean-law": {
      "command": "korean-law-mcp",
      "env": {
        "LAW_OC": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Get your free API key at 법제처 Open API.

Client	Config File
Claude Desktop	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Win) / ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Mac)
Cursor	.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf	.windsurf/mcp.json
Continue	~/.continue/config.json
Zed	~/.config/zed/settings.json

Option 2: Remote (No Install)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "korean-law": {
      "url": "https://korean-law-mcp.fly.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Option 3: CLI

npm install -g korean-law-mcp
export LAW_OC=your-api-key

korean-law search_law --query "관세법"
korean-law get_law_text --mst 160001 --jo "제38조"
korean-law search_precedents --query "부당해고"
korean-law list                          # all 64 tools
korean-law list --category 판례          # filter by category
korean-law help search_law               # tool help

Option 4: Docker

docker build -t korean-law-mcp .
docker run -e LAW_OC=your-api-key -p 3000:3000 korean-law-mcp

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Tool Categories (64 total)

Search (11)

Tool	Description
search_law	Search statutes (auto-resolves abbreviations)
search_admin_rule	Search administrative rules
search_ordinance	Search local ordinances
search_precedents	Search court precedents
search_interpretations	Search legal interpretations
search_all	Unified search across all categories
suggest_law_names	Law name autocomplete
advanced_search	Advanced search with date/keyword filters
get_law_history	Law amendment history by date
get_annexes	Retrieve annexes + extract HWPX/HWP to Markdown
parse_jo_code	Article number ↔ JO code conversion

Retrieve (9)

Tool	Description
get_law_text	Full statute text
get_admin_rule	Full administrative rule
get_ordinance	Full local ordinance
get_precedent_text	Full precedent text
get_interpretation_text	Full interpretation text
get_batch_articles	Batch article retrieval (multiple laws)
get_article_with_precedents	Article + related precedents
compare_old_new	Old vs. new law comparison
get_three_tier	Law → Decree → Rule 3-tier comparison

Analyze (9)

Tool	Description
compare_articles	Cross-law article comparison
get_law_tree	Delegation structure tree
get_article_history	Article amendment history
summarize_precedent	Precedent summary
extract_precedent_keywords	Precedent keyword extraction
find_similar_precedents	Similar precedent search
get_law_statistics	Law statistics
parse_article_links	Parse in-text legal references
get_external_links	Generate external links

Specialized (10)

Tool	Description
search_tax_tribunal_decisions	Tax tribunal decisions
search_customs_interpretations	Customs interpretations
search_constitutional_decisions	Constitutional Court decisions
search_admin_appeals	Administrative appeal decisions
search_ftc_decisions	Fair Trade Commission decisions
search_nlrc_decisions	Labor Relations Commission decisions
search_pipc_decisions	Privacy Commission decisions
+ get_*_text for each	Full text retrieval

Knowledge Base (7)

Tool	Description
get_legal_term_kb	Legal terminology search
get_legal_term_detail	Term definition
get_daily_term	Everyday language search
get_daily_to_legal	Everyday → legal term mapping
get_legal_to_daily	Legal → everyday term mapping
get_term_articles	Articles using a term
get_related_laws	Related laws

Chain Tools (7)

Composite research workflows — multiple tools in a single call.

Tool	Workflow
chain_law_system	Search → 3-tier comparison → batch articles
chain_action_basis	Law system → interpretations → precedents → appeals
chain_dispute_prep	Precedents + appeals + specialized decisions
chain_amendment_track	Old/new comparison + article history
chain_ordinance_compare	Parent law → nationwide ordinance search
chain_full_research	AI search → statutes → precedents → interpretations
chain_procedure_detail	Law system → annexes → enforcement rule annexes

Other (4)

Tool	Description
search_ai_law	Natural language AI search
search_english_law / get_english_law_text	English law search/retrieval
search_historical_law / get_historical_law	Historical law search/retrieval
search_legal_terms	Legal dictionary search

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Usage Examples

User: "관세법 제38조 알려줘"
→ search_law("관세법") → get_law_text(mst, jo="003800")

User: "화관법 최근 개정 비교"
→ "화관법" → "화학물질관리법" auto-resolved → compare_old_new(mst)

User: "근로기준법 제74조 해석례"
→ search_interpretations("근로기준법 제74조") → get_interpretation_text(id)

User: "산업안전보건법 별표1 내용"
→ get_annexes("산업안전보건법 별표1") → HWPX download → Markdown table

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Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
LAW_OC	Yes	—	법제처 API key (get one free)
PORT	No	3000	HTTP server port
CORS_ORIGIN	No	*	CORS allowed origin
RATE_LIMIT_RPM	No	60	Requests per minute per IP

Documentation

• docs/API.md — 64-tool reference
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — System design
• docs/DEVELOPMENT.md — Development guide

Credits

• 법제처 Open API — Korea's official legal database
• Anthropic — Model Context Protocol
• kordoc — HWP/HWPX parser (same author)

License

MIT

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_{Made by a Korean civil servant @ 광진구청 AI동호회 AI.Do}