Science ministry reviews illegal spam response with carriers

The science ministry said it co-hosted a Seoul meeting to assess illegal spam countermeasures, calling for domestic and international text-message relay operators to more closely supervise their bulk-message clients.

The sixth public-private consultative meeting, co-hosted with the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Commission, reviewed progress on five strategies and 12 detailed tasks in a comprehensive anti-spam plan launched in late 2024. The commission also encouraged operators to disclose spam-report data, strengthen sharing of illegal-spam sender numbers and expand artificial intelligence filtering. "Illegal spam has declined significantly through the efforts of the public-private consultative body," said Shin Young-gyu of the commission.

"Illegal spam is not simply an inconvenience; it is a major channel for serious crimes that cause financial harm, including voice phishing and smishing," Nam Seok, the science ministry's telecommunications policy director, said.

The three mobile carriers and Kakao pledged to strengthen warnings and blocking before the Chuseok holiday in September, when illegal spam may increase.