Lee Seung Man, group leader of the Youth Protection Division under the Korea Communications Standards Commission’s (KCSC) Internet Communications Review Bureau, led a delegation to visit the National Communications Commission (NCC) on the afternoon of Aug. 1, 2018 and was received by NCC Chairperson Chan Ting-i. Since NCC and KCSC signed a “Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in the Field of Communications” in 2013 numerous exchanges have taken place, such as the KCSC’s annual year-end international roundtable in which NCC joins each year,
　　During this visit, the South Korean delegation and their counterparts from the NCC’s Department of Broadcasting and Contents, including the director, discussed broadcasting content supervision, product placement, and regulations, as well as some specific cases regarding the content management of various media platforms. The two sides shared practical experiences and exchanged opinions on the issues at hand.
　　 Currently, in South Korea, telecommunications, broadcasting, and Internet services are overseen by different government units: the “Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning” (MSIP) is responsible for communications convergence and frequency band management, while the “Korea Communications Commission” (KCC) is the central administrative organization responsible for broadcasting and telecommunications policies, consumer protection and other administrative matters; the KCSC is a non-governmental organization tasked with reviewing broadcasting and internet content to safeguard consumers and public interests.
　　The KCSC delegation traveled to Taiwan at the invitation of the Institute of Watch Internet Network (iWIN) to attend its “2018 Youth Internet Safety General Meeting” held on July 31, 2018. On Aug. 1, the KCSC expressed its intention of learning more from NCC with regards to Taiwan’s product placement laws, regulations and cases. During these discussions, NCC representatives were given the opportunity to explain related regulations and the logic behind the required distinction between programs and advertisements. They also compared cases of advertising in programs and cases that violated product placement provisions, as well as the related penalties so as to help the KCSC delegation deepen its understandings of regulations and actual operating methods of Taiwan.
　　In return, the NCC used this opportunity to inquire how South Korea manages important Internet governance concepts and values such as freedom of speech, children’s rights and benefits, and privacy protection. The KCSC delegates explained that their committee is an NGO that has been authorized to handle complaints about broadcasting and internet content. The KCSC also indicated that Korean society has recently become extremely concerned about cybercrime issues such as online sexual exploitation. In response, NCC stated that the society in Taiwan is equally concerned about these issues, and thanked the KCSC delegates for attending and sharing their experiences at the iWIN-organized “2018 Youth Internet Safety General Meeting.”
　　The two commissions took advantage of this valuable opportunity to deepen understanding of each other’s methodologies in handling these types of issues. In the future, such visits and mutual invitations to participate in international conferences or roundtable discussions can continue to serve as appropriate opportunities to exchange information and experiences. Both sides expressed commitment to working towards creating a healthy communication content development environment while protecting the rights and benefits of audiences and effectively balancing the development of the industry.