Korean government departments are facing a setback to overcome regulations to foster the game industry, the core content of the 4th industrial revolution. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to lay the foundations for industry development by releasing regulations that act as obstacles to the development of the game industry. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family emphasizes the negative aspects of the game and prevents it. A typical regulation that conflicts between the two ministries is `Online Game Shutdown`.

The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Leisure and Home Affairs still did not find a consensus and ran parallel. In the 7th year of the game shutdown system held in the National Assembly under the auspices of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea under the presidency of the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the shutdown system is a regulation that forcibly blocks online game access for adolescents under 16 from midnight to 6 am. The Ministry of Leisure has introduced it as Article 26 (1) of the Juvenile Protection Act and has been in operation since November 20, 2011. The game industry is a typical regulatory evil.

Especially, at the forum, Chung Hyun Baek, Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, "We should keep shutdown system by attending the Minister of Shutdown of Leisure Department. The Leisure Department did not attend all the discussions related to the shutdown last year. This is because it is not desirable that the collision between departments is exposed to the outside. A spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said, "The minister has asked me to participate in the debate, saying that it would be appropriate to actively promote the policy of shutdown."

It was once again confirmed inside and outside Chung`s "shutdown maintenance" position through a debate on the day. Chung said last year at a ministerial hearing on the shutdown, "It is important to stabilize the system."

Chung`s position is placed in front of Minister Chong - Hwan Do, head of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, which is responsible for the game industry. Since taking office last year, the minister has been deregulating. It is the intent of the government to shift the unilateral regulation of the game industry to industry. To this end, we have been operating a game regulation improvement council since last year. "It is the task of the Ministry of Culture to promote the game industry, which accounts for 57% of the content export," said Minister Jong-Hwan. "We are expected to respect the opinions of the leisure community about games and commitment, but the game should be respected and promoted as an industry. There is a part, and this is what we do."

The two officials at the meeting of the two ministries also clashed in front. Kim Sung-woong, director of the Youth Protection and Environment Division of the Ministry of Youth Protection, said, "There is still a great deal of public concern about the game, its immersion, dependency and addiction," adding, "More than 60 percent said shutdown time limit should be strengthened or maintained."

Kim Gyu-jik, director of the Game Contents Industry Department at the Ministry of Manpower and Culture, stated "The game is a cultural content enjoyed by the majority of people. We should not consider games as a matter of good or evil as one of various hobbies such as exercise, movie appreciation and music appreciation. We agree that the shutdown system should be transformed into self-regulation of the industry. We hope the amendment bill of the Juvenile Protection Act will be resolved soon."

By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@


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