.kr trustee and local-presence services compared

The pick is Netim. It prices the domain (€32) and the trustee (€25) side by side, and it publishes the way out: change the holder to a party that qualifies, then transfer. Its weaknesses are an unnamed Korean partner and a €72 change-of-holder fee. Openprovider includes the service free, but sells only through resellers. Whichever you choose, the registry's rules are on the .kr eligibility page.

The ten services compared

Prices exclude VAT, are in each provider's own currency and were checked in October 2026. Totals are shown only where the fees are published, and add no change-of-holder or restore fee. Ratings weigh the contract and a published exit ahead of price. None of these services is approved or supervised by KISA, which accredits registrars, not trustees. The methodology explains how we judge them, and EuropeID and Web Solutions appear to share an operator.

What you are buying

Article 4(1) of KISA's Domain Name Management Rules requires the registrant to have a Korean address, so there is no cheaper contact-only product as there is on .sg. You are buying a contract in which the trustee, or a Korean party it appoints, is the registrant of record and you are the user.

The services in detail

Netim ★★★★★★★★★★

French registrar. .kr, .co.kr, .ne.kr, .pe.kr, .re.kr and .seoul.kr each carry a €25 trustee fee beside a €32 domain. Netim or a partner is the registrant while you keep beneficial ownership. You leave by changing the holder to a qualifying party, and if you still do not qualify you hand the nominee details to the new registrar. Weakness: the partner is unnamed, Netim may refuse service for any reason, and a change of ownership is €72. Full profile.

Openprovider ★★★★★★★★★★

Dutch wholesale platform. Its local presence list includes .kr, .co.kr and .or.kr, free. Its .kr page says the owner and the administrator both need a local address. It says a transfer code is normally withheld until the trustee service is disabled and an eligible owner or a new trustee is in place. Weakness: it never says who becomes the registrant, shows the price only at order, and sits behind a reseller. Full profile.

bNamed ★★★★★★★★★★

Belgian by its governing law, and it links a full trustee contract from its terms page. The Trustee Services Agreement, issued by NameWeb BV, says the trustee may be registrant or holder, fees run until the trustee is off the registry record, and you leave by supplying an eligible replacement and paying change costs. It may end service on 30 days' notice. Weakness: €120 for the domain is nearly four times Netim's fee, and liability is capped at 12 months of fees. Full profile.

CentralNic Reseller ★★★★★★★★★★

The Key-Systems platform states the rule plainly: the owner contact must be inside Korea, and if no eligible contact exists its trustee service supplies one, switched on with a flag at registration. It lists the accepted certificate types and a 30-day redemption period. Weakness: no price, no exit terms and no retail route. Full profile.

101domain ★★★★★★★★★★

The domain is $52.49, then $65.99. A secondary information page puts the trustee at $134.49 a year and calls it non-transferable: you update ownership to meet .kr requirements before a transfer out, and remove the trustee by support ticket. WHOIS shows the trustee's contact. Weakness: the trustee costs more than twice the domain, and its main .kr page shows no trustee price. Full profile.

Gandi ★★★★★★★★★★

Gandi provides a local presence automatically if you have no Korean address, with no separate fee, but sells .kr only to customers on a Corporate Services contract. The domain is £85.79, then £143.98. Weakness: not a retail option, a renewal nearly 70% above the first year, and nothing on leaving. Full profile.

InterNetX ★★★★★★★★★★

Lists .kr and .co.kr on its trustee list, with a local owner and a local administrator required, and restricts the trustee to company owners. Weakness: fees are quoted case by case and no exit is published. Full profile.

EuroDNS ★★★★★★★★★★

Luxembourg registrar. The domain is €162.50 (€162 for .co.kr). Its local presence terms, last modified in January 2014, say the service is free, given without guarantee, suspendable at any time, and that suspension leads to deletion. To transfer out you first appoint your own local presence. Weakness: no trustee price, a trade fee of €152, and terms that leave the discretion with EuroDNS. Full profile.

EuropeID ★★★★★★★★★★

€323 a year with the trustee free. EuropeID, its Korean branch or a representative becomes the legal holder and the administrative contact, and you receive a user certificate describing your rights. Weakness: the highest price here and no published exit. Full profile.

Web Solutions ★★★★★★★★★★

$350 a year, with an agent fee of $0.00 on .kr, though its .co.kr row shows $199 while the text says free. It must remain the maintaining registrar, prepaid fees are not returned, and it may transfer ownership between its agents at its sole discretion without telling you. Weakness: an unnamed agent holding that discretion. Full profile.

How to choose

1. Check whether you need one. A Korean branch, a subsidiary or a resident colleague with a registration number meets Article 4(1) without a trustee.
2. Price five years, not one. The table runs from €285 to €1,750 over five years, and the cheapest published total, Netim's, also comes with a published exit.
3. Ask who is the registrant and in which country. The unnamed partner is the party Article 11 would act against.
4. Ask what the change-of-holder step costs. €72 and €152 are published, and every provider makes you do it before you leave.
5. Run your own DNS. A billing dispute should never be an outage.

Who is not in the table

Domgate lists .kr, .co.kr, .ne.kr, .or.kr and .한국 as needing local presence but shows no price, which its own page says means it does not offer the service for that extension. DonDominio sells .kr at €36.95 and says the registrant must have a presence in Korea, mentioning no trustee. GoDaddy says a trustee is used at no extra cost for registrants outside Korea, with no price on that page, and Instra lists .kr at $127 and mentions local presence for foreign registrants. Gabia, an accredited Korean registrar, has a Korean-language site that states nothing for overseas buyers, and the Korean domain seller LETO says a Korean address is required and offers no trustee. We found no .kr page for Marcaria, Safenames or Com Laude.

Frequently asked questions

Notes

Prices were checked in October 2026 on each provider's own pages and exclude VAT. Netim lists €32 for the domain and €25 for the trustee. 101domain lists $52.49 and $65.99, with $134.49 for the trustee on its information page. bNamed lists €120, €109 on renewal, and €25 for local presence. Gandi lists £85.79 and £143.98. EuroDNS lists €162.50, and EuropeID €323 and Web Solutions $350, in both cases with the service included. Openprovider shows its price only at order, and CentralNic Reseller and InterNetX publish no .kr price. Article numbers come from KRNIC's English text of the Domain Name Management Rules, amended in October 2024, which we have not compared with the Korean original. This is not legal advice.

Last updated October 2026. Prices and terms change, and several of these providers publish out-of-date pages. If you spot something wrong, email info@trusteeindex.com.