Korea Convenes Public-Private Council on Overseas K-Content Piracy

The culture ministry convened a public-private council on Thursday to coordinate South Korea's response to overseas infringement of Korean content, drawing seven government bodies, seven public agencies and 19 private associations to the Korea Press Center in central Seoul.

The 10th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council was chaired by Kim Young-soo, the ministry's first vice minister, and focused on how government policy and industry complaints can be brought into one channel. The council first met in October 2019 as a copyright protection body and has since widened its remit to cover industrial property rights tied to the content industry.

"The more Korean content is loved around the world, the more sophisticated and advanced the methods of intellectual property infringement become, which makes close public-private cooperation more important than anything," Kim said. He added that the voices raised at the meeting would be reflected in policy so that the rights of Korean content creators are properly protected overseas.

Government bodies used the session to present their own enforcement work. The broadcasting and media communications commission outlined its response to illegal content distribution, the intellectual property office described efforts to upgrade protection of Korean brands abroad, and the foreign ministry shared cases of overseas infringement. The justice ministry presented plans to strengthen international cooperation networks and speed up cross-border cases, the industry ministry covered responses to rights violations through free trade agreements, and the police agency discussed its joint operation of Interpol's online copyright infringement programme. The Korea Copyright Protection Agency, the Game Rating and Administration Committee and the Korean Film Council presented cases of how they had responded to infringement.

Private associations then laid out requests, including a call from the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association to widen the scope of targets eligible for emergency blocking. The Korea Animation Industry Association sought measures against illegal sharing of animation through social media, and the Korea Broadcasting Association asked for a cooperation system among pay-TV operators to counter illegal internet protocol television. The Korea Electronic Publishing Association raised online illegal distribution of web novels and webtoons, while the Korea Popular Music Industry Association requested a survey of counterfeit and imitation K-pop goods in China and support for follow-up action.