President Heo Chang-min had championed gender equality since his candidacy (as had all candidates), and after taking office, he significantly empowered the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF).
He appointed Shin Jeon-mi, a senior Assemblywoman from the New Politics Party, as Minister and increased the ministry's budget by 40% compared to the previous year.
Compared to ministries like Foreign Affairs, Unification, and Land, Infrastructure and Transport, MOGEF is small and possesses limited administrative authority.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance oversees the National Tax Service and Korea Customs Service; the Ministry of the Interior and Safety oversees the National Police Agency and National Fire Agency; the Ministry of Justice oversees the Supre Prosecutors' Office. However, MOGEF has no such affiliated agencies under its direct control.
Furthermore, its areas of responsibility largely overlap with other ministries. For instance, youth protection overlaps with the Ministry of Education, cultural industry regulation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), and issues like sex cris and prostitution with the Police or Prosecutors' Office.
However, after Assemblywoman Shin Jeon-mi beca Minister, backed by governnt and public support, MOGEF gradually expanded its sphere of activity. Inevitably, this led to jurisdictional conflicts with other ministries.
For the governnt to announce policies, it must hold internal etings to coordinate the interests of various ministries. Yet, MOGEF frequently seed to operate independently, out of sync with the others.
A pri example was the issue of legalizing pornography.
Despite it being a presidential directive and the ruling party officially supporting it, MOGEF alone, alongside the opposition Free Korea Party, voiced dissent.
As this lack of coordination repeatedly surfaced, palpable consternation grew within the ruling camp. So ministers and assembly mbers harbored dissatisfaction, but Minister Shin enjoyed overwhelming support from won's groups and civic organizations. Consequently, even those with complaints hesitated to voice them openly.
Minister Shin Jeon-mi supported Assemblywoman Lee Jung-hye's bill, arguing that all pornography sites should be blocked.
"Pornography sexually commodifies won, sets back won's rights, undermines gender equality, and negatively impacts adolescents. The internet is flooded with illegal spycam videos and revenge porn, and countless victims are suffering right now. Therefore, blocking websites that indiscriminately distribute obscene materials is a necessary asure the governnt must take to protect its citizens. There's a misunderstanding among so that this ans banning all adult content, which is untrue. Legitimate adult materials that pass review can be viewed freely."
- Hey! So what exactly is this 'legitimate adult material' MOGEF is talking about?
- Officially released erotic films. Like Mada Aema.
- Who even watches that stuff these days?
- I don't care if they execute the bastards who spread spycam and revenge porn, just please allow regular porn!
- It's useless. As long as Minister Shin is there, there's no hope.
- Faceit access is blocked. What's going on?
- Use SNI encryption or bypass with a VPN. No matter how much the governnt censors the internet, there are always ways.
- I know that. It's just annoying that we have to go to such lengths.
- South Korea is probably the only country in the world where adults can't legally watch adult content.
- I just want to emigrate.
Despite the surge in public opinion demanding the legalization of pornography, Minister Shin Jeon-mi refused to yield.
The recent ga regulation bill followed a similar pattern. While the MCST advocated for broad discussions involving the ga industry and civic groups, including considerations about the Shutdown System, MOGEF unilaterally insisted on imposing regulations.
Once MOGEF gained regulatory authority, it began wielding it like an all-powerful sword across the entire cultural industry.
Among these, the primary target was naturally the ga industry.
Applying similar regulations to music or film would likely draw criticism for dampening the successful Hallyu (Korean Wave).
Indeed, MOGEF had previously faced significant public backlash for designating songs rely containing lyrics about alcohol and tobacco as harmful to youth, and for distributing "Gender Equality Broadcasting Production Guidelines" suggesting regulations on female idol appearances due to perceived uniformity in their looks.
However, gas were perceived as a safer target. Public perception of gaming lagged behind that of music and film, and the industry itself had largely neglected self-regulation and efforts to improve its social image, being preoccupied with profits.
There was less resistance, yet cracking down on gas garnered votes from parents. (Reflecting parental sentint: "Isn't the reason my child isn't studying all because of gas?")
Minister Shin Jeon-mi had spearheaded ga regulation since her days as an assemblywoman. Now, as Minister of MOGEF, she felt unstoppable. Her conviction was that the governnt must strictly control harmful dia—be it pornography or gas—to protect youth and won.
"We will ticulously review gas for sexual content, violence, and any elents that undermine gender equality or are discriminatory towards won. We will issue corrective recomndations for gas found lacking, and if they fail to comply, we will consider asures such as distribution bans and imposing fines."
Unlike the pornography issue, significant money was involved here. MOGEF needed a larger budget to fully carry out its expanded role, and ga companies seed the easiest targets from which to levy funds.
Therefore, the passage of the 'Bill on Prevention of and Support for Healing from Internet Ga Addiction' was deed imperative.
Minister Shin Jeon-mi joined forces with lawmakers from the Free Korea Party to push for the bill's passage, while simultaneously launching a public campaign to highlight the dangers of ga addiction.
***
Taek-gyu, who usually just played gas after clocking in at work, was busy for the first ti in a while.
First, the ga industry decided to propose a self-regulation plan, and to this end, they agreed to form an association of ga companies.
Since regulation requires enforceability, the association needed significant authority. And for this, major developers had to make concessions.
A draft of the self-regulation plan already existed. However, it hadn't been agreed upon due to resistance from major ga companies, simply because having no regulations at all was more profitable.
The problem of gambling-like elents in dostic gas was severe. More than a few gas had failed because, instead of focusing on making the ga enjoyable, they solely induced excessive real-money spending.
The most problematic among these were the probability-based items, commonly known as 'random boxes' or loot boxes. Encouraging players to keep purchasing until they obtain the desired item was an issue, as were the abysmally low probabilities, sotis compared to lottery odds. In so cases, ga operators were even caught manipulating these probabilities.
As a result, the public perception of dostic gas deteriorated, and gars began turning to foreign titles, sotis even chanting, "Korean gas, just die!"
Taek-gyu separately gathered the heads of the top five dostic ga companies, including LC Soft, NA Gas, and Letmarble.
"Considering the content of the bill and MOGEF's actions, its passage will inevitably deal a huge blow to the entire ga industry. It could even be devastating. Shouldn't the industry proactively create a self-regulation plan before that happens?"
Rather than leveraging his position as Vice President of OTK Company to pressure them, Taek-gyu earnestly persuaded them.
"You've seen self-driving electric cars on the roads, right? Previously successful auto giants are now facing collapse one after another. I assure you, a similar seismic shift will occur in the ga industry. This isn't the ti to be content scraping pocket money from kids with random boxes. You need to prepare for the much larger market that will open up in the future."
After half a day of persuasion, the CEOs of the five major ga companies finally agreed to delegate authority to the association and accept the self-regulation plan.
After the CEOs left, Taek-gyu said.
"Even if the bill currently proposed in the National Assembly isn't passed, as long as MOGEF is in charge of ga regulation, similar issues will keep recurring."
I nodded.
"That's likely."
"There's only one fundantal solution to this problem."
"What is it?"
To my question, Taek-gyu pushed up his glasses and said.
"MOGEF needs to take its hands off cultural industry regulation and transfer it to MCST. MOGEF and the cultural industry have little connection in the first place, right?"
Whether MOGEF spends 10 billion out of the 12 billion won budgeted for supporting won in prostitution on operational costs, uses 10 million won for a year-end party, or pours funds into developing a new font for adolescents... that's not our concern.
It's not like other ministries don't have similar instances of budget waste.
The real issue is the regulation of the cultural industry.
The power to regulate sothing demonstrates the authority that ministry holds. This is why regulations, once established, are rarely abolished easily.
"Do you think MOGEF will give up that power?"
"We have to make them."
In fact, discussions about consolidating policy work for the cultural industry, including gas, under MCST have been around for a long ti.
"Unlike MOGEF, MCST has a better understanding of subcultures. Plus, so key mbers of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee co from the ga industry."
I recalled sothing I saw in the materials Yuri brought .
"But it's not like MCST doesn't regulate either, right? Didn't they cause an uproar recently by regulating indie gas?"
After the Sea Story incident, which plunged the nation into gambling addiction (though so insist on calling it ga addiction), a law was enacted requiring all gas to undergo pre-screening. This law was applied to comrcial gas, but sohow, MCST suddenly declared that even non-profit gas not intended for sale must undergo pre-screening, threatening criminal charges for sharing gas without it. Sites that received the official notice shut down their forums, and budding developers working on things like Flash gas lost the opportunity to showcase their creations. One might think they could just get the pre-screening, but doing so requires hundreds of thousands of won and a significant amount of ti. MCST's stance was that they were rely applying the existing law, but it was akin to the Food and Drug Administration raiding a gathering where people were sharing homade lunches. The situation was so absurd, and because it threatened to uproot the entire ga developnt ecosystem, there was fierce backlash. MCST eventually backed down, suspending enforcent for non-profit gas and promising to review the law.
"Still, MCST is better than MOGEF. The fact that they backed down due to public backlash shows they can be reasoned with. Fundantally, their perspectives on gas differ. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regulates gas viewing them as 'culture,' whereas the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family views them as 'dia harmful to youth'."
I nodded.
If we have to take a beating anyway, it's better from soone we can talk to.
***
The National Assembly convened following a bipartisan agreent. They agreed to prioritize processing overdue bills, including the 'Bill on Prevention of and Support for Healing from Internet Ga Addiction.'
There wasn't much ti left.
The CEOs of the five major ga companies t sequentially with Minister Kim Guk-cheon of the MCST and key mbers of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee, presenting the industry's self-regulation plan.
OTK Company stepped forward to announce the industry's stance:
"OTK Gas completely rejects the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's request for cooperation on self-regulation and clearly states its opposition to unfair ga regulations. Having agreed with over 50 dostic ga companies to establish an association and develop autonomous regulatory asures, we will collectively respond to various regulatory bills."
As soon as the announcent was made, the dia flooded with articles.
[(Breaking) OTK Company Opposes MOGEF Ga Regulations]
[Expansion of Shutdown System Halted?]
[Ga Industry Supports OTK Company's Announcent!]
[Dostic Ga Companies Agree to Create Self-Regulation Plan]
[Public Opinion Divided on Ga Regulation]
[Experts: Ga Addiction is a Serious Illness...]
[Parent Groups, Religious Organizations: Strengthen Ga Regulation...]
[OTK Company Declares All-Out War Against MOGEF!]
Ga sites like Ruluweb went into an uproar.
- Why single out gas? Isn't studying 12 hours a day at school, evening self-study, and private academies study addiction? Then they should regulate studying too!
- Heh heh, staying up all night playing gas is bad, but studying or going out to play is okay.
- Just declare gas illegal and arrest everyone who makes them or plays them.
- LOL, if the bill passes, they'll probably forcibly drag ga addicts to addiction treatnt centers like they're being taken to a ntal hospital.
- Line up here, all you guys who'll be dragged away.
- Korean ga companies are definitely a problem. How are loot boxes different from pachinko?
- Right. Gas these days are just luck-based crap gas.
- Our country's ga companies need to go bankrupt before they co to their senses.
- It's true that gambling elents and addiction need regulation, but not like this.
***
The Blue House (Presidential Office) and the ruling party were taken aback. Listing Kang Jin-hu's past misdeeds against the political world would fill several books. Therefore, any politician with decency and common sense usually tried hard to avoid getting entangled with Kang Jin-hu. But now, this whole situation had erupted because of an official notice sent by MOGEF!
As the situation showed signs of escalating, the governnt decided to finalize its position after reaching a conclusion in a eting of related ministers and then make an announcent.
However, even before the eting convened, Minister Shin Jeon-mi preemptively stood before the press. She spoke with an angry voice:
"Ga addiction is a serious illness, and regulation is absolutely necessary. Recently, increasingly addictive gas with strong gambling-like elents are erging, and statistics show that 20% of adolescents suffer from excessive imrsion. Excessive gaming hinders academic pursuits, leading to lower grades and increased aggression. As ga addiction can even alter brain structure, making it harder to overco, the World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to classify gaming disorder as a serious condition. Yet, I cannot suppress my anger and concern that OTK Company, a self-proclaid global enterprise, is abandoning its social responsibility to protect adolescents, undermining gender equality, and persisting in misogynistic practices. Under no circumstances will I back down from regulating gas and treating ga addiction. I implore the citizens to support the passage of this bill."
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