Culture ministry convenes Korea-Philippines copyright talks in Manila

The culture ministry said Tuesday it will host a copyright forum and government meeting in Manila with Philippine counterparts, seeking responses to digital changes including AI and protection for creators' rights.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will convene the events with the Korea Copyright Protection Agency and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. The 16th forum will cover copyright protection and enforcement in digital settings and rights-information databases for music works as AI changes the industry.

At the forum, the Korea Copyright Protection Agency will introduce its copyright-protection review system and procedures, along with its latest protection and enforcement policies. The Korea Copyright Commission will outline work to build and manage rights-information databases for musical works. Private-sector participants will include Philippine collective management organizations.

The government meeting will cover exchanges among collective management organizations, copyright issues arising from AI and responses to illegal content distribution. Participants will also share the latest copyright policies of both countries and discuss concrete ways to expand exchanges and cooperation among the groups. An Mi-jung, head of the ministry's Copyright Industry Division, and Teodoro Pascua are scheduled to attend.

The Philippines led Asia-Pacific in viewing time and share of Korean cultural content, recording 35.8% in the 2026 Overseas Hallyu Survey. "K-content is highly popular on mobile platforms such as online video services, particularly among younger people," a ministry policy official said.

Cooperation on copyright issues dates to 2011. Korea opened a copyright office in the Philippines in 2012, and the two sides signed an MOU on exchanges and cooperation in 2014. The Manila event follows a forum in Seoul last year bringing Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines together. The two sides will share current Philippine copyright policy trends and hold in-depth policy discussions.