# Korea Business Number Check – Active or Closed (NTS) (`korea-b2b-data/korea-business-status-check`) Actor

Korea business registration number (BRN) check: see if South Korean companies are active, suspended or closed, and their VAT tax type. Bulk lists of 10-digit business numbers, English output, no API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/korea-b2b-data/korea-business-status-check.md
- **Developed by:** [Korea B2B Data](https://apify.com/korea-b2b-data) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 status checkeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Korea Business Registration Status Check – Active, Suspended or Closed

Check whether **South Korean businesses are still operating** – active, temporarily suspended or closed – and see their **VAT tax type**, straight from the **Korean National Tax Service (NTS)**. Paste a list of business registration numbers and get clean English results in seconds.

No Korean language skills, no government API key, no scraping.

### What you get

- **Status**: `active`, `suspended`, `closed` or `not_registered`
- **Closing date** for closed businesses
- **VAT tax type** in English (general, simplified, exempt, non-profit…) plus the official code and Korean label
- **Tax type history**: date of the latest change and the previous type
- `checkedAt` and `source` on every row
- Bulk: up to **10,000 numbers per run**, checked in batches of 100

### Typical uses

- **KYB / vendor onboarding**: confirm a Korean supplier or customer is a live business before you sign or pay
- **CRM hygiene**: flag closed companies in your Korean lead list
- **Credit and risk checks**: spot suspended or recently closed counterparties
- **Invoice checks**: see whether a business is a general or simplified VAT taxpayer
- **AI agents**: call it as a tool through the Apify MCP server ("is 124-81-00998 still active?")

### Input example

```json
{
  "businessNumbers": ["124-81-00998", "000-00-00000", "12345"]
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "businessNumber": "124-81-00998",
  "businessNumberDigits": "1248100998",
  "registered": true,
  "status": "active",
  "statusKo": "계속사업자",
  "closedOn": null,
  "taxType": "General VAT taxpayer",
  "taxTypeCode": "01",
  "taxTypeKo": "부가가치세 일반과세자",
  "taxTypeChangedOn": null,
  "invoiceIssuingSince": null,
  "previousTaxType": null,
  "previousTaxTypeCode": null,
  "closedByUnitTaxConversion": false,
  "checksumValid": true,
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-28T03:00:00Z",
  "source": "Korea National Tax Service, business registration status (data.go.kr 15081808)"
}
```

Numbers that are not registered return `"status": "not_registered"`. Inputs that are not 10 digits return `"status": "invalid_format"` and are **not charged**.

### Pricing

**$0.002 per business number checked** ($2 per 1,000). No start fee. Invalid-format inputs are free.

### Data notes

- **Source**: Korean National Tax Service business registration status service, published on the Korean government open data portal (data.go.kr) under an unrestricted-use license.
- **Freshness**: live lookup at run time. The NTS syncs its registry about every 30 minutes; brand-new registrations can take 1–2 days to appear.
- **Status only**: the NTS does not return company names, addresses or owner names through this service, and this Actor does not ask for or return any personal data.
- **Business number checksum**: `checksumValid` shows whether the number passes the standard check-digit rule. It is informational; the status always comes from the NTS.

### Data sources & license

- **Korean National Tax Service – business registration status service** (data.go.kr dataset 15081808). Looked up live at run time; the NTS syncs its registry about every 30 minutes, and new registrations can take 1–2 days to appear.
- License: unrestricted use, including commercial use (Korea Public Data Portal).
- Every row includes `source` and `checkedAt`.

### Related Actors

More official Korean business data from the same publisher:

- [Korea Company Search](https://apify.com/korea-b2b-data/korea-company-search) — 550,000+ companies by region, industry, headcount
- [Korea New Business Openings](https://apify.com/korea-b2b-data/korea-new-business-openings) — businesses licensed or registered in the last days
- [Korea Hiring Signals](https://apify.com/korea-b2b-data/korea-hiring-signals) — companies growing headcount right now

### Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent product. It is **not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by** the Korean government or any of the agencies named above. Data is provided as published by the source, without warranty; English translations and romanized place names are generated automatically and may contain errors. The data is intended for business lookup and prospecting, **not as official statistics**. No personal contact data (phone numbers, emails) is returned.

### FAQ

**Where do I find a company's business number?** On its invoices, website footer (사업자등록번호) or contracts. It looks like `123-45-67890`.

**Can I check sole proprietors?** Yes. The service works for any business registration number, and only the status is returned.

**How fast is it?** About 1 second per 100 numbers.

# Actor input Schema

## `businessNumbers` (type: `array`):

Korean business registration numbers (사업자등록번호), 10 digits each. Hyphens are fine (e.g. 124-81-00998). Up to 10,000 per run; duplicates are checked once.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "businessNumbers": [
    "124-81-00998"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Registration status for each business number

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "businessNumbers": [
        "124-81-00998"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("korea-b2b-data/korea-business-status-check").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "businessNumbers": ["124-81-00998"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("korea-b2b-data/korea-business-status-check").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "businessNumbers": [
    "124-81-00998"
  ]
}' |
apify call korea-b2b-data/korea-business-status-check --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,korea-b2b-data/korea-business-status-check"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/FieQb74JOX0YZy1WB/builds/SAZq23G16Evuogf19/openapi.json